Community Corner

TALK TO ME, PARENTS: Was South Carolina Mom's Punishment For Pot-Smoking Teen Appropriate?

April Mathison ordered her 13-year-old son, Brandon, to wear a yellow sign with the following message: "Smoked Pot, got caught. Don't I look cool? Not." Was it appropriate?

Is ordering your pot-smoking child to wear a bright sign and stand at a busy intersection appropriate punishment?

Sometimes a simple timeout or grounding isn't enough.

Sometimes, a little humility provides the biggest lesson.

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At least that was the thinking of one South Carolina mom who caught her 13-year-old son smoking pot. According to the Huffington Post, April Mathison caught her son, Brandon, red-handed.

So what did she do to deter him from ever doing it again? Mom made her son stand at an intersection while wearing a bright yellow, sandwich board sign.

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The message? "Smoked Pot, got caught. Don't I look cool? Not."

The sign was yellow, but Brandon's face was red.

(Click on the video above to see what I'm talking about)

April Mathison says the shame is an efficient deterrent for her son to never smoke pot again.

The punishment is the latest example of public shaming of naughty children by their parents. (Click here to read the whole HuffPo piece)

So we ask you, Patch users, what do you think? Watch the video above and discuss it in the comments below.


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