It's always good to see a parent who you know parents

[allegrasparkle]

Mea Culpa if this is in the wrong place, but I'm still a little pumped up from this.

Alright I'm working and I get the call from the store manager about a possible shoplifter. Sure enough three teenage boys, one takes off his manky old Chucks, puts on a new pair of Lugz and walks out without paying for them. Your friendly neighborhood LP lady approaches and tries to make him return to the store. We get back into the store and young guy shoves me and tries to run. My cuffs come out and go onto him.

Take him back to the office and process, Police call Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad arrive Dad is beyond pissed. Yelling and screaming looking for his snowflake using profanity ect. We (me and the Police Officer) calm him down and explain the situation, Dad calms down ASAP appologizes for his behavior. We go into the office to complete the paperwork the officer then tells Parents about snowflake shoving me and Mom and Dad exchange knowing looks, and Dad backhands son to the floor and gets into his face and tells him that it is not acceptable to ever strike a female and now because he had to pretend to be a man in front of his friends he could take his punishment like a man and go to the detention center. I'm trying not to bust out laughing and the cop is looking up at the ceiling. Kid ends up going to JD, parents appologize for snowflake, LP lady get a story for CS.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

Well....I dunno, what was taught here was, "hitting is good, and hitting is bad at the same time." Also, that women should not be hit, while boys should. I'm glad that the parents found it serious, but what kind of a son can one expect from a dad who slaps to the ground? Clearly, their "parenting" hasn't worked before, so why should anyone expect it to now?

[allegrasparkle]

All to often in my line of work I see parents even when confronted by overwhelming proof that thier snowflake has done something wrong still deny the obvious. I'm not cheering the methods, (I got my the hell beat out of me as a kid for no reason, and I don't use it for my kids.) But I can kind of see where dad is coming from. Differing opinions make the world go around.

[South Texan]

Personally, I would much rather see a parent go a little too far in discipline than try to defend their "little angel" while getting mad at the store for detaining and accusing him of a crime.

[Shards]

Actually, the lesson here is that actions have consequences, and since physical action is the only thing you seem to respect, we'll give them to you that way. It's also teaching a very uncommon (nowadays) form of chivalry and a gentlemanly nature that I think the world could use more people paying attention to.

[Apathy]

I agree. I don't think I'll run across the situation in which I need to knock my stupid son down, but you know what? Maybe it'll get the message through his head.

And yes, it's way better that the parents try to make him learn something rather than defending his stupid actions.

[marasbaras]

Knocking the kid to the floor was excessive. Definitely too far.

Knowing me, I probably would've knifed him emotionally ... "How would you like it if some coward shoved your mother around, eh? You tried to steal, so now you suffer the consequences. You will get no help from us on this one. You were man enough to try to steal and hit this woman, I guess you're man enough to deal with this situation. Don't expect visits while you're in jail. I hope you get a good public defender. And, I hope they give you bus money when they release you because we're not going to pick you up, either. I love you son, but you need to learn. Watch yourself in jail and I'll see you when you're finally let home."

However, I, too, would rather see parents go a little too far than not far enough. We see evidence of nowhere near far enough too much now.

[fish3k1]

On the fence here. Yes, the kid needed to be punished, and to do nothing would reinforce his behaviour. At the same time however, being hit that hard (how old was the kid btw?) is pretty damn close to abuse, especially if it's a common occurrence, and if the Dad's first reaction when he turned up was to start yelling and screaming at you, suggests to me he has anger issues, and this probably isn't the first time he's hit his son like that. And I've seen through enough experience (thankfully not my own) that treating kids like that does not make for well-balanced/adjusted members of society.

[tropicsgoddess]

Backhanding the kid was a little much, but I'd rather have that than the parent defending their child with the whole "my son/daughter is a good person and would never do such a thing......" speech.

[Dark-Star]

While I might say the backhand was a *little* much...I can't say that I wouldn't be doing the same thing if I were the dad. If my little snowflake got collared for that offense I would scare the hell INTO him.

Way to go parents!!!

[Barefootgirl]

Life is not about extremes. Normal parents have reactions that lie between the two extremes of backhanding a kid to the floor, and attacking the nasty store that apprehended widdle precious.

I think the father's extreme over-reaction is probably a good clue to why the kid has gone off the rails. If he behaves like that in public, what on earth is he like at home? Come to that, i wonder what happens to mum when she burns his breakfast toast...?

[BaristaTrav]

Mea Culpa if this is in the wrong place, but I'm still a little pumped up from this.

Alright I'm working and I get the call from the store manager about a possible shoplifter. Sure enough three teenage boys, one takes off his manky old Chucks, puts on a new pair of Lugz and walks out without paying for them. Your friendly neighborhood LP lady approaches and tries to make him return to the store. We get back into the store and young guy shoves me and tries to run. My cuffs come out and go onto him.

Take him back to the office and process, Police call Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad arrive Dad is beyond pissed. Yelling and screaming looking for his snowflake using profanity ect. We (me and the Police Officer) calm him down and explain the situation, Dad calms down ASAP appologizes for his behavior. We go into the office to complete the paperwork the officer then tells Parents about snowflake shoving me and Mom and Dad exchange knowing looks, and Dad backhands son to the floor and gets into his face and tells him that it is not acceptable to ever strike a female and now because he had to pretend to be a man in front of his friends he could take his punishment like a man and go to the detention center. I'm trying not to bust out laughing and the cop is looking up at the ceiling. Kid ends up going to JD, parents appologize for snowflake, LP lady get a story for CS.

I'm as bleeding-heart liberal as they come.. but I have to say, all other things being equal, a good backhanding may be just what junior there deserved and needed... unless..

Junior's behavior is a direct result of violence and abuse at home, which is possible. There's just no way to really know.

[blas]

Don't get me wrong, I have zero tolerance for men who hit women, but I think that this kid was nothing but a little shit and a criminal, and he did what a lot of stupid criminals do....he tried to run. Even if the OP were a man, I think he would have shoved them out of the way. I don't think gender mattered to this kid.

[iradney]

I dunno. Which is preferable - the kid getting a little sense knocked into him NOW, and never doing again? Or the kid getting away with it again and again, till he eventually goes to jail and lord knows what happens to him?

[Becks]

Interesting.

The cop stares at the ceiling during the backhanding.

I wonder what he knows.