Parenting can be tricky. What do you do when your 13-year-old starts declaring independence and refuses to acknowledge your authority as a parent?
After one particularly heated discussion, single mom Heidi Johnson took drastic action. “The child is going to have a rude awakening today after the words he exchanged with me last night,” she wrote on Facebook.
“Not only will he find this on the door, but his mattress stripped, and the toys and clothes that I bought confiscated. He will have three options: Buy his own, rent his clothes at $3 a day, or renegotiate his terms of being a child. Mama’s done playing games and being a doormat.”
Predictably, Johnson received a barrage of criticism, which she responded to by pointing out that her strategy was successful:
And, you know what… this hasn’t hurt our relationship. He and I still talk as openly as ever. He has apologized multiple times. He even removed some luxuries from his room that I missed. And… he is trying harder. Just because he is doing things better doesn’t mean he gets everything back in one grandeur leap of faith; he earns a little back at a time. The necessities are the first to be earned back… then, the luxuries.
What do you think? Should Johnson’s method of parenting be praised, or did she go too far?