Father Teaches Daughter Lesson About Facebook

[AdminAssistant]

I just don't understand why he would destroy the laptop. Ground her from it. Confiscate it. Wipe it and sell it. But to destroy a $500 piece of machinery to make a point is so blatantly stupid that I can't even comprehend it.

[shroo]

Personally I liked the guy's style.

If she learns nothing else from this experience she will, hopefully, at least have a better understanding that you can't hide anything online and more often than not it will come back to bite you in the ass.

Want to rant and vent? Grab on of these:

[Rageaholic]

What is it with parents posting their punishments online? Reminds me of this (WARNING LANGUAGE) Uncle posteds his "ass whoopin" of his nephew online over some facebook gang stuff. Sadly, this didn't end well because I hear the boy ended up getting killed by a gang (though that may not have been the uncles fault).

With that said, at least the laptop video was funny. He was kind enough NOT to force his daughter on camera.

[DrFaroohk]

I'm reminded of when my wife reads something on here that upsets her. I'm reminded of what I tell her - IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, DO NOT READ IT.

It was a private post, and she was venting. Obviously parents have power over their kids, and I'm all for parents checking out their kids online activities, but a simple post venting about some probably valid frustrations is not worth shooting her laptop and getting all pissy.

I would imagine that dad has had negative things to say about his boss before. Maybe he'd like someone to invade his privacy and read it out loud to the boss.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yeah I'm torn about this.

She could have been a spoiled brat, but it sounds like she was just venting. She was expected to do a lot of chores around the house and with school that means very little time for fun. And getting a job? Assuming she even has time to fill out appplications, she would have been even more stressed out than before. And really, even if the rant was just teenage angst (which I doubt it was), does it really merit having your laptop destroyed?

Hard to tell, but I'm betting on overly demanding parents.

I'm betting on spoiled brat exaggerating. When I was a kid, I had to do chores too; I laid the table, stacked the dishwasher, occasionally did some hoovering/dusting, walked the dog and had to keep my room reasonably tidy. My brothers also had chores to do, like unstacking the dishwasher, unlaying the table, mowing the lawn, taking out the rubbish, picking up the dogshit from the garden... and yeah, once we got jobs we had to pay our parents rent. This bitch should just stop whining and feel happy that she's got so little to do, cuz once she grows up and leaves home, she'll have to do a hell of a lot more chores and pay for everything, too.

[fireheart17]

One question: if the kid isn't getting paid for the hours she puts in at her family's clinic, then I have to agree, she does need to vent. And what happens when she ends up going through Grade 12? are they going to lump more chores on top of her until she's their maid?

And at this point, I am reminded of a story I once heard.

13/14-year-old twin girls were arrested for shoplifting at a store. They thought they were going to get off so easy since they were underage and therefore couldn't be prosecuted. Instead, their dad had a horrible surprise waiting for them.

When they got home, all they had in their bedroom was a mattress, a set of clothes for the week and a hairbrush. Each. They had to earn back EVERYTHING that had previously been in their room by doing chores and helping dad out.

Alternately, if daddy didn't want his child to rant on Facebook, he could've set up a KeePass at home that prevented her from accessing Facebook (i.e. set up a parental filter and use KeePass on said filter to prevent child from cracking it) and then severely grounded her: no friends, only school and clinic and he could also talk to the school to prevent her from accessing the Internet in any way, shape or form. (If you're thinking "what about research assignments?" there are things called books, magazines, microfilms, newspapers, videos and so on)

[bara]

There was no call to put this on youtube. In fact I do think he overeacted. A reaction was warranted I think, but this is to much.

[Gravekeeper]

I'm too uninterested to check the videos, but here's an article I found about the aftermath.

Article at Digital Journal

Honestly, this makes it more stupid. As this means he's officially aired his and his daughter's full names publically and on the Internet. Letting the world see the whole Jerry Springer show and know exactly whose involved.

The other troublesome aspect to this that even if she was ranting on Facebook to friends, she was specifically doing so in private away from her parents. That aspect seems to be being ignored because its online.

If you took the exact same scenario offline how would you feel about it? If dad had stumbled upon daughter complaining to friends and choose to hide and ease drop then punish her for what she said to her friends privately. Or walked into her room and saw her diary open and rather than close it, picked it up and read the rant than punished her for it.

IMO, dad handled this badly and the way he handled it explains exactly how his daughter acts, as she's a reflection of her parents.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm too uninterested to check the videos, but here's an article I found about the aftermath.

Article at Digital Journal

^-.-^

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

First of all, I've learned to take anything I see on YouTube with a grain truckload of salt. What better way to generate views than to take advantage of all the parents out there who are frustrated with their children and express it in a very violent way?

God knows I've used the expression "boot up their ass" more times than I can count. Not to the child in question, but certainly to my wife afterwards.

And there have been times when I thought of taking their laptops away from them and smashing the hell out of it. Never did though thanks to them being so expensive.

So, unless someone can provide a link to a news article, I'm not going to lend this much credibility and chalk it up to another attention seeker using the social media outlets. And even then with modern news media being what it is...

Secondly, If this were true, I can say how many times my own children have exaggerated about how much work they have to do. My own daughter calls picking up the laundry from her room every evening "doing the laundry". Which annoys the shit out of me because as the person who actually washes, dries, folds and puts away all the laundry...is it really so much to ask that everyone drag their clothes to a centralized location to make my life a little easier?

So one has to ask how much of that was accurate and how much of it was ranty exaggeration?

Thirdly, If this was a true reaction to his daughter's ranty diatribe...

Well I can't condemn nor condone such activity. He may have not done the right thing, he may have overreacted, but he did nothing illegal. Private property, likely a licensed handgun, and as a parent he has the right to take away something that belongs to her until such time as she becomes an adult.

So I'm not taking any side apart from healthy skepticism.

[Gravekeeper]

I'll sum this up right here: This man is just as immature as his daughter and this is not parenting. This is revenge. Simple as that. Its fine if he's pissed about his teenage daughter acting like a teenage girl ( Shock! ). Girl's obviously stressed if even half of what he says is true ( Housework, school and a job on 7 hour's sleep? I couldn't do that now -.- ). She's venting and lashing out. Is she doing so in a stupid fashion? Of course! She's a fucking teenager and the way she's saying it with the attitude she has is a direct reflection of her parents if this video is any indication.

So rather than handle this like a mature adult and talk to the kid privately, dad sinks down to the same immature level as his daughter and embarrasses her online in revenge for what she said online about him. Then destroys her labtop in an immature display of wannabe manliness. Absolutely guranteeing that she will never respect him for the rest of her teenage years and certainly never forgive him for them either. If ever. So now she's going to be resentful, likely more rebellious, and will probably go shit crazy wild the moment she gets away from him.

So bravo. You're a shitty parent and the way you're acting is exactly why your daughter acts the way she does.

[Duelist925]

I can see the dads point, but he went too far.

Yes, it was disrespectful as hell, but it was also venting. Sometimes teens need to vent. It does sound like she did a ton of chores (Hell, I did dishes and took out the trash, and kept my room clean as a kid--my parents made their own bed) and is getting a bit sick of it. i can sympathize. I;d like to know her side. Maybe she is a spoiled brat, maybe she isn't.

Shooting the laptop? Stupid, stupid move. Yes, she might bow down now--but this is going to fester for a long time between them. I would not be surprised if she did something in retaliation, something harsh. Nor would I be surprised if she told him to stfu about paying him back for the bullets and software. He destroyed it--he chose to use the bullets--he can pay for it, would be the reasoning behind it.


She may have deserved a punishment--but this was going too far.

[Seifer]

He mentioned it about halfway through.

If she's having problems now, what is she going to do when she has to work full-time for a living, has to pay bills, has to manager her own time, have to clean her own place, have to cook for herself, etc. etc.?

Oh right, I remember now. They grounded her, right? I guess if grounding doesn't work, the next logical step is firearms.

When she gets her own place, she has complete control over her surroundings. Don't feel like doing the dishes that day? Then don't do them. They're HER dishes. Don't want to take out the garbage? Then don't. It can be done next garbage day.

When you live with your parents (especially tyrannical parents), you can't make those decisions. They expect that shit to get done NOW and ONLY NOW. God help you if you don't do everything to their exact specifications.

When you live on your own, you are your only boss. Things can be lax if you want them to be - you're not expected to do jack shit when you get home from work. If you feel like laying on the couch all night, watching tv and browsing the internet, then you do it. Mommy and Daddy aren't going to walk in and ground you for not cleaning the kitchen.

I think this girl will be able to handle herself just fine when she gets out on her own. Shit, she might even do a better job of it without her parents breathing down her neck 24/7.

[Greenday]

He mentioned it about halfway through.

If she's having problems now, what is she going to do when she has to work full-time for a living, has to pay bills, has to manager her own time, have to clean her own place, have to cook for herself, etc. etc.?

[Seifer]

Sounds like another whiny spoiled brat to me. I had to do chores when I was a kid and guess what? Even at 23, I still clean the windows, sweep, take out garbage, mow the lawn. My sister dusts and sweeps sometimes and she's 27. As soon as I turned 15, I started working. Hell, I was working two jobs by the time I was 16. I also played football. And bowling. And was the girl's lacrosse manager. And I still had fun. And it wasn't abusive.

Not everyone handles stress the same. I'm glad you were able to juggle all the crap you had to do, but she might not be able to physically or mentally handle it. It happens. Some people can be driven to a nervous break down by a certain job, while another person thrives in it. Just because one person can handle it doesn't mean another won't crash and burn while trying.

It was only her laptop in the sense that her parents let her use it. If she wants one that's really her own, she can buy one herself. This is her second time getting in trouble with facebook usage, so sorry Seiffer, but they already tried the nice route. And this is definitely not emotional torture. If their kid really feels like what they did there was emotional torture, she should probably see a therapist and get a reality check.

How is she going to buy a laptop? Sounds to me like she's rather busy, what with working in the family clinic and juggling all her other responsibilities. According to her, she's already stressed and exhausted from the amount of work she's currently doing (falling asleep at 10 pm after finishing all of her work, and then having to lock her door to get any decent sleep on the weekends). I wonder how she'd deal with adding an extra 20+ hours of work per week. Would her grades drop? Would mom and dad get angry and punish her for it?

Authoritarian parenting leads to out of control kids. The more you try to control kids, the more likely they are to go crazy the second they're out from under a parent's thumb. I've seen it happen with college kids - their parents think they're perfect angels who listen to any order given, but the moment they're away to college they start doing all the things they were never allowed to do.

Now, I'm not saying you should be a passive parent, either. Passive parenting breeds bratty snots. It's basically the other end of the spectrum, parenting wise. Usually, it's best to hit that sweet spot where you aren't passive, but you aren't a tyrannical asshole, either. It's hard to do, especially with teenagers who want to be treated like an adult, rather than a toddler. They want privacy and the ability to make their own decisions. Some parents can't handle that, and thus the fighting and rebellion begins.

Personally, I think destroying a laptop is ridiculous. It's a huge waste of money, and since it means so much to the other party (the teenager), they are going to absolutely hate your guts and resent you for going to such an extreme. A resentful person is not a respectful person. If she can't post angry facebook messages, what's the next step? She's still going to feel the same way that she does now, but she'll have to find another way of expressing her frustration.

I hope it's nothing more serious than her previous outlet of posting angry messages on the internet.

(By the way, where did you read/hear that she had already gotten in trouble with facebook before? I didn't hear it in the video. Then again, I stopped watching at the point when the psycho father shot a couple rounds into the defenseless piece of machinery to prove a point.)