http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0frKzOaqzpY
Good on April Mathison for doing her best to get her son on the right track:
“Smoked Pot, got caught. Don’t I look cool? Not.”
That’s what was written on the sandwich board-style sign that Brandon Mathison, 13, wore as he walked back and forth along an intersection in South Carolina, Wave3.com reports.
“Time outs and taking things away just doesn’t work any more. Sometimes a little public humility is what they need nowadays to get a point across,” the boy’s mother, April Mathison, told the news outlet.
Mathison said that if the display prevents even one child from thinking about smoking marijuana, then she will feel she has done her job as a parent. But she’s not the only parent to use the tactic on her child.
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Topical Teaching 
August 28, 2012 at 9:39 pm |
Just when I think I know which way you’re going to lean on an issue, you shock the heck out of me. Keeping us on our toes. 🙂
I think this is a horrible idea. Would you really do this with your own child? At 13 years old? The first time she got caught? And arrested by police (which probably already scared the heck out of the kid)? Will this really deter him from doing it again or will he just be more careful about getting caught? Judging by the NO VACANCY signs on our prisons, filled with repeat offenders, where the conditions are a lot worse than having to wear a sandwich board for an afternoon, I’d say this punishment is not going to have any kind of lasting effect. If anything, it may do more harm than good. Did that woman look a bit too self-satisfied about her five minutes in the spotlight as some people said in the YouTube comments? I’m not sure and I have no desire to condemn her personally.
My concern would be for the health of my child, physically and psychologically. I think time would have been better spent with some frank discussions about the consequences of drug use and addiction. Perhaps some volunteer work that puts real life in perspective. Maybe a conversation with those who never thought that smoking a bit of pot would be their gateway to a life of addiction and the struggle for recovery.
On the other side, I chuckled at some of the comments on YouTube from people in countries where marijuana is legal. And we don’t have to travel too far back in time to see that even alcohol was illegal in my country. Times change, laws change, public opinion changes. That just makes me feel even more strongly that the important issue here is the health of the child, and nothing has been done to address that.
August 28, 2012 at 9:57 pm |
Margaret, I normally have an issue with this kind of punishment, but I feel that the mother in this case is just trying something a bit different. She strikes me as a very loving and supportive parent who was at a loss of what to do. She felt this had a better chance of working than a conversation.
Judging from the video, he is really loving the attention. He couldn’t get the grin off his face. The message on the sandwich board was tame and the boy seems to be relishing his 15 minutes of fame.
I think this is a fun story, not a controversial one. The kid is a good kid who I’m sure will have something to tell his kids when they get to his age.
Would I do the same with my kids? No way! But I wouldn’t call it a horrible idea.
Then again, if the sign had read “I am a stupid, law breaking, pot head” – I wouldn’t have been so dismissive.
August 28, 2012 at 10:06 pm |
I think that’s what bothered me about it so much…that he didn’t seem like a problem kid. The punishment seemed a bit harsh for a first offense. Also, if he, in fact, was arrested, that will probably come off his record at some point since he is a minor, but that YouTube video will never disappear and may come back to haunt him later in life when he is trying to get into colleges or applying for jobs.
August 28, 2012 at 10:07 pm |
…or running for office. LOL.
August 28, 2012 at 10:10 pm |
You make a good point. Running for office would prove he was psychologically damaged by the stunt.