Public punishmentSince so many of the men and womenfolk who read The Stir are vehemently opposed to spanking, unlike me, I’m interested to see what the verdict is on public punishment. 

Case in point: a picture recently posted on bestselling Christian chick lit author ReShonda Tate Billingsley’s Facebook page is going viral, showing her D.I.D. (that would be daughter in distress) clearly upset after what can only be described as yet another instance of bad decision-making on—what else?—social media. I swear these kids can’t get their Facebooking, Twittering, and Tumbling acts together, so I’m all for her creative form of discipline.

Girlfriend doesn’t look very happy, does she? Good. She’s not supposed to. It’s obvious from her grimace that she’s not enjoying it, which will hopefully make her think twice before being grown and taking pictures with liquor again. And, even at that, being goofy enough to post them on Facebook (though it’s a good thing she did, otherwise her mama may not have found out, at least as quickly as she did. Sometimes kids’ lack of decorum on social media is a parent’s best friend). The note says it all.

Public punishment is certainly nothing new, but maybe it’s a renewing trend in the land of parenting because just last week, before this young lady found herself in hot water, another teen girl in North Carolina met a similar fate. Her father, Donell Bryant, made his daughter, Quandria, stand on the shoulder of a highway and hold a sign that said, "I have a bad attitude. I disrespect people who try to help me," on one side and, "I do what I want, when I want, how I want," on the other. Oh, one other thing: dad timed it so she’d be pacing with her sign just as her fellow students were getting out of school. She had been suspended but Mr. Bryant didn’t think the punishment was severe enough and voila! He let a piece of poster board, a Sharpie, and a message take it from there.

Apparently it was effective. Local news got wind of the story and Quandria admitted she needed to change and planned to do better.

I have done something very similar with Girl Child. When she was in the heat of her tween angst last year, giving me problems at every turn and a stank attitude to boot, I went to AC Moore, bought a pin—the kind politicians wear when they’re campaigning—and wrote inside, “Ask me about my grades!” She wore it to church one Sunday and instead of being able to brag about her report card, like the folks asking her were expecting her to, she had to admit she was goofing off in class, not doing her homework, and wasting her mama’s money on Catholic school tuition.

We hung out at church a little longer that day. Coincidentally, of course. But by the time we loaded into the car, she had had more than enough of an earful about the mistake she was making doing crappy work in school.

Here are a few more kiddies who’ve been on the wrong end of their parents’ creativity and (hopefully) learned their lessons as a result. Do you think public punishments are effective?



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