I wonder how many F`s the parents had when there were kids. The girl may have gotten an F for bad grades, but these parents get an F- for being idiots.

I hope somebody kicks those parent's asses up and down the street. I'd volunteer.

So i take it the parents never thought the girl might have a learning disability? It is nice to see that stupid people aren't just bound to a certain area of the country, they are sincerely everywhere.

and you need a license to have a dog.

Creeps should have to rot in jail.

Just as shocking to me is the reaction (or absence thereof) from the 50 or so people who were outside the home. That's 50 perverts with a good conscience. Disgusting.

It is no wonder this child has poor grades. I lived through severe punishment for bad grades and the grades were because the punishment left me without the ability to concentrate. This chikld needs to be helped, NOW. I tried to leave home at a a later age because I couldn't take any more of it. I was packed, at the bus stop, trying to figure out how to find Boys Town. Never mind the reason I went back home, I shouldn't have. I never got over the life I had to live then, but I learned to live and recovered after I finally left. It took as many years to unlearn all that as it took to learn. Good Luck, Child. It will get better when you realize that that is not the way the world really is.

Obviously, all the facts are not in the story. It's quite possible that there is more to it. If the girl was genuinely having a difficult time in the subject, but was trying, then this isn't the way to go about it. But, if she was a discipline problem and purposely wasn't trying, then that is a different story. Why? Well, it's like this: many times in raising my kids when I anticipated that they weren't going to listen to me I'd tell them in advance what there punishment would be if they disobeyed. Occasionally they would disobey. Then I'd impose the penalty. They'd cry about me being so mean. I'd calmly explain to that that if they really thought about it, I was very kind and considerate. I not only set down guidelines, but I also told them what the punishment would be. When the punishment followed I'd point out to them that I'm not really punishing them at all. I'm merely having them face the consequences of their own actions. I was told by friends that I was mean and cruel and "how could you do that?" You know what? They quickly learned their lesson and I had very few problems with them. They've grown up to be upstanding adults.

Oh, and I also was so mean that I made them go apologize for taking apples from a neighbors tree without permission. My friends couldn't believe it. But, unlike a lot of their kids, my kids never took anything that wasn't theirs again.

So, and again it depends on what really went on in that house, but it might just be that the cops just taught the kid that she doesn't have to try in school and doesn't have to listen to her parents and that her parents have no right to discipline her, even if she was forewarned about the consequences.

Just the flip side of the coin here.

To witchrunner: There is no excuse for this child's parents to take the action they did. There have to be a zillion other "consequences" for getting an F. It takes a demented mind mixed with a hefty serving of bully to come up with a shaved head and diaper run. And it seems the parents were amused at the response to the humiliation they inflicted on another individual. So yeah, one does need to know what goes on in that house if this was perceived as parenting by this family. Thank goodnes it is known as child abuse in most states.

witchrunner

I don't care WHAT the situation was, in school, at home, shearing any child like a sheep, placing them in diapers (unless incontinent) or placing them on public display practically naked is WRONG. that you made your children take responsibility for their actions is one thing. They did wrong, they were made to admit that wrong in a responsible manner and they learned from their mistakes. What was the lesson for this girl? Make a mistake and be humiliated FOREVER? That the parents thought the police taking them was funny or a joke shows they had no intent of this being simple punishment or some form of learning moment. Its sole purpose appears to have been for their entertainment.

Wow. You think that THIS was acceptable if the child was misbehaving? I feel very sorry for your children. I could burn a kids hand with a lighter if they did a bad thing. And boy they would learn quick. Probably would only take once too. DOES NOT make it right! Same here. This is mental and emotional abuse AT LEAST! How can you condone that?!? Especially as a parent! I fail to see how making your child apologize for taking without permission (A very valid discipline) is the same as shaving a twelve year old girls head and having her run around in a diaper for a half an hour until the cops got there. Lord knows how long she would have been left there! How can anyone think that this is alright?

hmmm... ok, so beat the crap out of the kid? acceptable! yell and scream at the kid? acceptable! tell the kid that if they keep up misbehaving then you are going to make they go outside in a diaper and enforce it? totally unacceptable and child abuse!

Good grief, no wonder we have such problems with kids these days. Leave a bruise on the kids behind and it is child abuse. Teachers try to grab a kid by the arm? Assault and abuse. Try to question a kid about a breaking and entering? Can't do it without parents being present.

So, it has come to pleading with a child to behave because anything else is child abuse. Do you realize why it is as hard as it is to keep kids under control these days? They learn very early that all they have to do is pick up the phone and call 911 or tell a school counselor. Of course we all know that kids never lie!

Now, read my post. Apparently you are of the opinion that the kid could be beating the crap out of the parents, threatening anything and everything and breaking everything in the house and your response is please don't torture the kid by putting them in a diaper. The fact is that you don't know the facts any more than I do. It constantly happens that people jump to conclusions without knowing what the real story is and end up eating crow.

How can you possibly think this is alright? Some said the same thing about the other things I've mentioned. My question was how could anyone think those things were not the proper thing to do. But, to each their own. Note, I never said that this was right in this situation. But if you think wearing a diaper is one of the most terrible things you've ever heard of, you haven't seen reality. I've seen a lot worst and for lesser reasons than getting an F.

I hope the parents go to prison for a long time and while they are there someone hurts and humiliates them the way they did their daughter, so they can see what it is like. These people are beyond dispectible. They don't deserve to have children.

Witchrunner

im srry but how is making a child run, in public, in a diaper and a tank top even remotely the same as grounding a kid? and then to shave her head on top of it? and LAUGH about it when the cops are taking them in? i can NOT understand how they thought this was acceptable punishment.

im sorry but these people need help and i am SO glad the girl and the other 3 kids in that house are away from the "parents".

Witch runner isn't wrong. There are times that if a kid isn't trying because they dont want to punishment is right. My mother picked us kids up from school everyday and one time my brother was making noise and being rediculous yelling and my mom said one more time and your walking, he did it again and she kicked him out and we followed him about a mile down the road while he walked. After a while she asked if he had calmed down and he said yes got in and we left. So guess what we had the cops come to our house because someone thought my mother was following a kid home. the officer asked what happened and my mom said he was being loud and wouldnt listen so I made him walk in the heat and sun to col him down, the officer said good plan have a nice day. There are a lot of things such as walking home infront of al of your friends at school that will straighten you out.

I think that possibly shaving the head like that might have been just weird but I know my parents would have been like ya go clean the street pick up all the trash. My parents didn't warn us what was coming, they just told us to do something and if we didn't then we got introuble with something to do and if we talked back we would get spankings.

Personally my sisters brother and I have turned out to be very successfull. There are to many people that didn't get punished properly when they were young and now they try and be kind to their child and not punish them. I would have laughed about this two if I had done it. Im sure the child was a little humiliated and there were times my parents humiliated me and then sat down and said, now you going to do that again, and I never did. I learned to give it my best effort and to try and I have done really well.

fleeross DID you ever get punished? I'm 22 and I can tell you that is an acceptable punishment, head part no but the rest would have embarassed me and guess what people grow up and they look back and laugh.

If people shelter there kids when something like this happens their all going to hav e their feelings hurt the rest of their life and wanna sue every person over just having someone look at them wrong. Society disapoints me in how much they try and change child punishment, there are third world countries that have better punishments for kids than we do. Personally I would make my kid mow the lawn, do a bunch of hard labor and do freaking community service, it builds character fleeross then i would sit down go back over the test with them and tell them that they can do better. Everyone knows that their are consequences for their actions. Society needs to learn that.

So i take it the parents never thought the girl might have a learning disability?

So I take it you never thought that as her parents they might already know she doesn't from past performance?

Witchrunner, I think your view was well-reasoned and polite. It's incredibly important to have a different perspective of a situation even I dont agree with the view. Though I dont condone what these parents did to their girl that we know of, you could be right, maybe there is something more going on that we DONT see. I think it speaks volumes about other posters though, who rebuts in a harpy screech. Jesus H. Christ people, learn some civility. Its crappy, Im more dismayed by the shrews holier-than-thou faux-concern than the harm the poor girl endured in the article.

IMHO spanking is in the reasonable realm... how ever praise in public reprimand in private. This went beyond reprimand. There wasn't a learning moment. This was simply cruel and humiliating for no reason other than the felt they could do it. Were they trying to SHAME the child into doing better? That never works long term. I may not be DR Spock but most adults know this was wrong on several levels.

Just wondering, is the husband the biological father of the girl? Sometimes foster homes are better than home.

It sounds like the parents snapped. Maybe they wanted to show her how it felt to be humiliated. She could be one of those children that talks back to her parents, disrespects them in public and refuses to do anything her parents tell her.

Too many unanswered questions with this story, but the good thing is they will eventually be answered now that CPS has gotten involved. Instead of condemning the parents, I hope they all get help and can become a functional family unit.

Witchrunner,

You have no idea what you are talking about. Spanking a child is not child abuse as long as you do not use a weapon. Yelling at a child is not child abuse but it is not a valid way to get control because when you are yelling you are out of control yourself. Before you start carrying on about police involvement in parenting take the time to learn your local laws, they can be found online and lay out very clearly what defines child abuse and what does not.

This mother and her husband set out to humiliate a 12 year old girl in front of neighbors and peers. Some of her classmates saw this happening to her so you know she was going to be teased and bullied once she got back to school, which would be of no help to her grades at all. A child that is bearing the scars of abuse, emotional, mental or physical (all 3 used here) will not be capable of functioning in a classroom environment on the same level as students with a stable home life; therefore the punishment was cruel, did not fit the crime and did not serve the purpose of teaching the child anything other than her parents, the people that are supposed to love and protect her would do harm to her and bully her if she did not cow to them 100%. Hopefully these parents will take some parenting classes and learn appropriate actions to take to deal with their children along with family and individual counseling for all of them.

Oh man that is hillarious !!!! Good job parents! Still cant stop laughing.

These are the kind of things parents are resorting to because spanking is no longer allowed. Don't get confused with the word spanking and the word ass beating. And yes, I know she is 12 now and you can't really spank a 12 year old, but parenting and discipline start at day one when the kid is born. And what about grounding the kid from tv, friends, games, etc... until her grades improve???? Well the parents get an F in parenting.

and they should get the same treatment, and then a good azz kicking for good measure.

Drezz-2874852 ~~ Two cheers for you. I AGREE COMPLETELY! The parents are NOT parenting if this is what they resort to in order to try and 'control' their child. No telling what other forms of so called 'disicipline' they have resorted to. When parents behave in this manner (even with spanking) it shows me just how inept, ineffective and dysfunctional they are. They are clueless. THEY are the ones out of control. THEY NEED HELP, and lots of it.

This child is getting F's for a reason. Could it be an emotional problem? A learning disability? A bad teacher? Maybe it would have been a better idea for the parents to get some assistance for their daughter in the way of a tutor. Could they have made an appointment with the school counselor and the teacher(s)? Maybe they tried some, none or all of these suggestions. I don't know. In any case, to mistreat ANYONE in this manner, to degrade, violate, de-value, and humiliate publicly is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE ESPECIALLY IF IT'S YOUR CHILD. Period!

Reading things like this, makes me want to PUNISH THE PARENTS to the MAXIMUM that the law allows. But at the same time I think they need HELP! I hope they get it, and I hope their daughter can get some help at school, as well as the family getting some kind of psychological support and help.

WOW!!!!! This is what they do to the daughter to make school go better!?! Can't wait to see what the parents do on Saturday Night! Freaky squared!!!! Bet the neighbors don't have them over too often.

She'll live with you.

Another set of idiots thinking they are parents

22 people didn't notice "distroyed"?

I'm fine with overlooking grammar and spelling mistakes when the poster seems like a good person, like whatthefhappened. I'll gladly shred people who are using their spelling/grammar mistakes to call people stupid or be otherwise hateful.

In other words, don't be a jerk.

welcome to china DanTheManOfVegas

Just WHO gets to decide who is fit to have children? The Gestapo by chance?

trust_verify

Re: Just WHO gets to decide who is fit to have children? The Gestapo by chance?

I'll volunteer! ;-)

Barbara Postid

trust_verify

Re: Just WHO gets to decide who is fit to have children? The Gestapo by chance?

I'll volunteer! ;-)

to make babies with me? 8-)

trust_verify,

Sorry, but I'm not a morning person. Maybe this afternoon we can start creating a super race. ;-)

LOL

Well we can't do worse than this family that's for sure. Just so al the parts are in the right place and working works for me.

amen!!!

So on the head Jacques! Now a days in our society most people either sit back afraid to interfere when they know of something wrong because it's not their job (Um, YES IT IS! You are a part of society and helping each other is part of being a civilized human being) or are afraid of being sued or they double down on stupid and justify the actions or make lame a$$ jokes of another person's misery. We have degenerated into an uncivilized mob of sorry excuses for human beings over the past 40 years.

I hope the GOOD people in their community band together, take in these children, protect and love them from this point forward.

You want to know how uncivilized? Those unhepful neighbors probably video'd her and if you look real hard it's probably on a website.

i agree that the whole street must have been beaten with the stupid stick

to leave a young person be torchered like this isn't in my way of thinking. Parents should be shaved and sent around town every day for a couple weeks and then straight to jail and the child given to a loving family where she isn't known so as not to have this tragedy follow her. this will remain with her as long as she lives

And make them wear diapers while in jail......the would become oh so popular.

If the parents abuse these poor kids in public, we can only imagine what is going on in private. I pray the children find good foster homes. May God Bless, heal and help them.

Agreed with Kathryn. If this is what the parents are willing to show in public, I hate to think of how the kids are treated in PRIVATE!

Sorry, but you are wrong on this one. Shame or humiliation is not a learning "tool", it's a WEAPON and it leaves scars for LIFE. People that don't know the difference between punishment and discipline shouldn't have kids.

You teach your children to have shame when they have done something wrong, because we should all feel ashamed when we do something wrong. You teach your children that feeling humiliated is natural when we have failed. You do not PUNISH your child with either of those things. Those are a separate part of the lesson that they learn when you punish them properly, which is different from child to child, but should NEVER include mutilating their appearance by shaving their head, or humiliating a girl early in puberty by placing her outside in nothing but a tank top and a diaper with dozens of boys and men staring at her. Appropriate punishments are things like groundings, extra chores, loss of privileges, required classes... Heck, if they felt she was in danger of failing, they should have gotten her extra help to pass instead of just threatening her if she didn't. Every single thing they did here, they did wrong.

Agree with you Valerie

@cedesttoo

hope you don't have kids because you are very wrong. Humiliation is a 3rd world punishment.

Acceptable punishment begins early on when they are toddlers....you spank them (not beat)

When they are a little older you still spank, but throw time-outs in as well......

When they are pre-teens all the way to teenagers, you use spanking, grounding (age appropriate time-outs), and chores (you WORK the bad out of them)

Humiliation is a tool that is only used by tools who don't know how to raise children.

Humiliation is the tool that was used in the days of slavery against African Slaves, during World War ll against Jews, and against anyone standing up for civil rights in the 1950's.

jrt..... if you are spanking past a toddler you are also wrong. If you are spanking as a pre-teen and teenager you are being abusive. You just aren't doing it in public. If you think it is so right to do then you should volunteer to be punished that way the next time you break rules.... in a judicial way or even at work or elsewhere in public. If it is good enough for a child or teenager then it is good enough for you.

I disagree. Everything is wrong with shame and humiliation. There is nothing wrong with GUILT. Guilt is the normal recognition that one has done something wrong, and it can lead to apology, restoration, and changes in behavior. Shame and humiliation, on the other hand, are degrading to someone as a person and have no place in parenting.

One of the problems in this country is that folks don't know the concept of "shame." If more people were shamed, I think they would be less inclined to do ill will or accept failure as a consequence. I don't agree with the actions of these parents, but I do understand their wish that their child should learn what something is to be ashamed of.

I've seen several articles in the recent past where parents made their children wear sandwich boards that spelled out what the child had done wrong; and they were paraded in public so that people would know that parents did not accept what the child had done. Again, shame is something most people want to avoid.

The opposite of shame is pride. We can't have one without the other. Most folks want to have a little pride in their children, and they reward them for their good performance. I see nothing wrong with the opposite happening, too. Again, I think these parents went overboard on their punishment, but the concept is sound. A more constructive penalty might have been to make her work in a food kitchen for a couple of weekends, sweep the streets, or any number of other actions. Shaving the head, wearing a diaper and sparse clothing is out there and not appropriate.

I still disagree with the "shame" concept. Maybe it's semantics, but here's how I see it. Guilt is what we want people to feel when they do something wrong. Guilt means that a person realizes they did something wrong and needs to apologize and/or make restitution. Once they apologize and/or make their restitution, they are done. Shame is when a person is put down as a person and humiliated, and the shame stays with them. If my parents had made me wear a sandwich board, I doubt I would have ever gotten over it because of the shame factor and having people possibly make fun of me. Working in a homeless kitchen, however, is something that can teach a very good lesson if applied appropriately because it doesn't shame the person doing it-who is going to make fun of you for doing that? As someone has said, "Guilt says, 'I made a mistake.' Shame says, 'I AM a mistake.'"

kelcy..not all of us as parents are tree huggers who think time-outs for 5 minutes actually work. You want to know why most of our kids today act out, disrespect on a whole other level and have no worry over consquences is because of people like you. I got paddled until I was 5 or 6 and if I didnt learn I got a belt. Its called spanking not beating. I learned real quick as do MOST people is that it hurts and I dont want that to happen again. When your punishment is stand in a corner for 5 minutes and you can do whatever you want then kids learn to do whatever they want. They walk over parents like you. Even when i was 15 and i backtalked my dad he threatned to turn me over his knee (I knew better). My kids will also be spanked, grounded etc when they dont behave. There is a difference between being a parent and being a friend. Parents teach, listen, love and sometimes discpline there kids. parents who act like friends (you for example) say timeout for 5 minutes, and say stop 5 million times and the kids still dont listen; and parents like you are the reason why people dont want kids in restaurants, or public places because they dont/wont listen to weak minded parents like you. (Parent slike you who believe that your kid is to precious to spank or ground or discpline period is the reason why society is what is.).

Kelcy...You are also wrong.

I am sorry to hear that Waitress, i was just thinking the same thing. Some parents that would make greats parents never get the chance but yet these idiot parents breed out of control to torment their children..

I can understand some shame, if my child steals I would make her write a letter of apology and make her hold a sign that says she stole from where ever, instead of jail time. However to shave this kids hair and make her wear a diaper and boys/men gawked and stared is just beyond a bit of shame, that's disgustingly humiliating.. She is 12 FFS.!!

I have three bio and five adopted.. We had times of Fs and As, when one of mine would bring home an F we would find out why and adjust the curriculum at school level and As were celebrated, but that's apart of being a proactive parent instead of a lazy piece of sh*t likes these two are.

In-fact one of my adopted kids got in to trouble for going in to a half burned down abandoned warehouse out of curiosity, one wall was collapsed.. The boys found playing cards inside and pocketed them and were popped for burg and breaking and entry.. I went to court to fight the breaking and entry and burg charges and it was lowered to petty theft and trespassing, the judge was on our side after he found out that it was just a group of curious boys.. Lesson learned, he had to write a letter of apology and attend a class to learn about his action and i full heartedly supported the punishment.. The best punishment was watching me cry and telling him i could have gotten a call he was dead and that would mean i would have lost someone i loved and bleah bleah, he was a ball of tears apologizing..

The punishment needs to fit the crime.. Grounding, revoking all privileges: no tv, no internet, studying more, mopping and cleaning floors.. What a POS couple to do such a horrible thing to that child.

A 12 year old isn't a "poor little girl". Yes, she's not an adult, but anyone whose spent even a short period of time with middleschoolers can tell you - 12 year old girls can be cruel, stubborn, selfish and demanding. For crying out loud - there are 12 year olds at my son't school who have started having sex!! Plese don't assume that because she's 12 she's an angel - for all you know she could've been skipping class and doing drugs. The article says nothing about her except that she's failing - which actually TAKES some effort in these modern schools...

@Jenn

Yes clearly the parents have nothing to do with how a child's personality turns out. ALL kids are cruel, selfish, and demanding.....THATS WHY THEY ARE KIDS YOU dipsh*t. Do you know what makes them not cruel, selfish, and demanding?..........practicing reasonable, effective discipline then showing RESTRAINT and LOVE....

You don't turn someone into a good person by being a bad person......that's just common f*cking sense.

@ Jenn -- What the hell, are you defending the parents?! True, you can't make any assumptions that the girl is an angel but you also can't assume she's a devil, and even if she was a devil no one should be treated like that.

Jenn S-2267056
A 12 year old isn't a "poor little girl". Yes, she's not an adult, but anyone whose spent even a short period of time with middleschoolers can tell you - 12 year old girls can be cruel, stubborn, selfish and demanding. For crying out loud - there are 12 year olds at my son't school who have started having sex!! Plese don't assume that because she's 12 she's an angel - for all you know she could've been skipping class and doing drugs. The article says nothing about her except that she's failing - which actually TAKES some effort in these modern schools

I raised a 4 hell raising. It's not about what's in them, but it's what's in me. You can change a child either for the best or for the worst. They don't stay 12 years old forever. Why is it so important to know about her school behavior? This was an F. It says that she fail a class. Not that she is incorrigible.

No, you can't make assumptions that the child was an angel or even that this was her first F on a report card but shaving a 12 year old girl's head and making her where a diaper in public is way over the line. Did they bother to check why she got the F? Did they check her mid-quarter grades? If this is her home-life and academics are not stressed until too late then the F belongs in part to the parents. If they thought this "punishment" would help I have some ocean front property in Minnesota to sell them...This will very probably create a behavioral "monster" for the school to try to fix. Middle school is very hard on kids and thier biggest goal is to fit in, they would much rather be the class clown then be thought of as stupid, as a result they rarely ask for help when they need it. These parents only made the job harder for the child and her school to help her to be successful.

I don't care if she sluffed the entire semester..you can't shave her head and put her in a flipping diaper..that is nuts!

If the parents seriously think that is gonna work then they have lost their minds!!!! It appears they warn their children for weeks that this will happen, then obviously they knew..but for whatever the reason what was not enough.

The parents sound like horrible bully's..probably do nothing but yell and scream at them...and intimidate. Kids have no self esteem and probably are teetering on disaster.

I agree with the above poster-even if a 12 year old is having sex with every boy in the class and taking drugs every day-will putting her in a diaper and shaving her head help that? If anything, it may lead her to rebel more! I certainly couldn't blame her for wanting to escape into drugs if she was being treated that way! If a 12 year old is doing those things, someone needs to get to the root of why she is doing them and to get her some help-not shame and humiliate her! Could it be that she needs help with her schoolwork? Does she have ADHD or a learning disability? There is also such a thing as learned helplessness, which happens when a person believes their situation will never change and has completely given up-and they no longer even try.

Public humiliation is a punishment that is only commonly and legally found in 3rd world countries....so actually your quite WRONG!!!

It's called spanking, and grounding, and building a real relationship with your kids. I like how parents now blame their kids for things that are completely and 100% the PARENTS FAULT!!!

That's what you get for working long hours, setting your kid in front of a T.V., instead of teaching him the ways of things and how to properly behave by setting a good example.

And shaving a boys head is ALOT different than shaving the head of a 12-year old GIRL!!!

How would you like it if the cops pulled you over for not useing a turn signal, then decided to shave YOUR HEAD as a punishment, in front of the whole police department. You would be singing quite a different tune then.

You are soooooooo wrong Jenn. Shaving your 12 year old's head and making her wear a diaper and throwing her outside and sprint around are disciplines that you support????? Just the fact that they would even THINK of these things as punishment shows what wackos they are. I'm shocked at your support. I think they should shave the mother's head, put her in a diaper and make her sprint around the jail like that for failing parenting.

PS I can only imagine what goes on inside that house if this is what they allow the public to view.

@ JRT ; First off, humiliation IS part of the punitive system in THIS contry you moron. All criminal court proceding are public, and are often reported in the media to boot. (except when a victims privacy needs to be protected.)

And do you even HAVE teens?? Have you ever tried to spank a 12 year old who weighs 30 pounds more than you do and tops you by 4 inches?? Not to mention that "spanking" is no longer "PC". Grounding is only effective if you child will actually obey you, which let me tell ya, is hit and miss once the hormones kick in - no matter HOW good you raised them! And having a relationship with your child is also hit or miss at this point, also because of the hormones and theier desire for independence.

Perhaps if they had raised these girls to be wholly and totally obedient, yah, she wouldn't be giving them a hard time - but you know what, she'd also be miserable and incapable of having any sort of independent thought. It's a fine line parents have to walk - and we ALL worry over it and make mistakes on the way - you just pray they aren't huge ones!

And, I'm sorry - it's rarely the parents fault 100%. I've seen kids raised by the same parents, same schools, same HOUSE, same TIME, and one ended up successful, one in jail and another struggling to get by. You can't say it's ALL the parents - that's just stupid.

@Julia - I actually said that the punishment didn't seem to fit the crime and was inapproprite but if you don't want to read that part...

I'll bet you $100 they threatened her with this outrageous punishment in a fit of anger one day and then she left them no choice but to follow through.....

First off Jenn, it's stupid to threaten with such a punishment to begin with. We don't know if she called her parent's bluff, or just couldn't overcome the grade problem. Did the parents try to talk to the teacher and find out whether the problem was truly the child's, or the teachers? Either way there is irreparable damage here. You can't just excuse that. It's shocking.

Jenn, I had 3 girls, and 1 boy. I spanked until they were 11, and then took away privileges, grounded them... But never did I resort to punitive punishment. That is reserved for the justice system. I was smarter than that. 

This was a huge leap over the line. This was more than inappropriate. And to laugh about it all the way to lock-up is despicable. I hope the only reason that you're straddling this issue is because, you're defending the idea of parental rights, and not this heinous act.

Jenn - It is terrifying to think that you reproduced. Please don't do it again.

Jenn

I have raised my children and they never got in trouble or bad grades on a report card and are now successful adults, they are humans and made mistakes like falling behind in school but I was vigilant and never let it get far enough to harm their semester grades. I have also taught high school and middle school to over 8000 children in the inner city and the suburbs and I can say with complete confidence that you could not be more wrong.

You can raise children to behave and not get into trouble even when hormones kick in, if you are willing to put in the time and make the right sacrifices (even if that means locking up the TV for a few months and doing without it yourself in order to do right by your children).

I have seen troubled students removed from their homes and placed in loving foster homes become great students who never got in trouble again more times than I could count (and those caring foster parents did not even get to raise them from day one but they still managed to clean up the parenting messes made by the birth parents).

What never works are shortcuts taken after the fact. Did she get an F? Yes. So yes, her parents had already failed. Ask any teacher, an F on your child's report card is your F too (unless they have seen you do everything possible to help prevent your child's failure, in which case they will gladly help you get the help your child clearly needs- but that almost never happens these days.) Punishing your child once the report card comes home is after the fact, it shows that both you and your child failed. Severe, public and humiliating punishment after the fact shows the world that as a parent you have severely failed.

Jenn,

As a teen, I would like to point out the fact that if you wish for a child to respect you, you must give them mutual respect. I have seen the "worst" teens be perfectly civil towards teachers and parents alike who treat them as equals. And rest assured, I am not a pregnant drug addict defending my people, I actually am going to Columbia next year. Somehow, I cannot picture a situation where these loving, dedicated parents did everything they could to keep their child on track, and there was literally no option left in the world other than to force her to return to a sadistic infancy.

Your comments regarding the supposed fact that the parents were left with 'no choice' both startle and amuse me. (Mainly startle me, due to the fact that there is literally nothing funny about it at all, and the thought of there being more people in the world like you will probably make me wake up in a cold sweat tonight). In fact, while reading your post, sometimes I was confused about whether I was reading a comment regarding actual human beings, or the potty training of puppies. But, you're probably nicer to your dog than you are to your children, aren't you? Thought so.

"There are very few options once you lose control. You let them get away with calling the shots and all is lost." On behalf of all teens, I promise that we won't organize a Russian-esque revolution against you....

To conclude, I agree with the person who made a facetious comment regarding you procreating. The thought is genuinely terrifying.

This is so sad. They should make the parents wear diapers and parade up and down the street and then put them in jail. This pour girl.

Jenn, YOU are the epitome of asininity to think that YOU are the person to be offering parenting advice with your "let me tell ya" high and mighty attitude, which came after your totally uncalled for comment about her not being "a poor little girl" and that "for all we know she could be skipping class and doing drugs" or "having sex" and that "12 year olds can be cruel, stubborn, selfish and demanding". What in THE WORLD gives YOU the right to jump to conclusions about this CHILD and to attack her character and defend the people who SHAVED HER HEAD and put her into a diaper in PUBLIC and made her pick up garbage??? Do you think that abuse makes better students?? You say that public humiliation is a part of the punitive system in our country?? Do we put prisoners in diapers when they show up for their trials?? NO, they wear suits. You are the moron. You are being the judge, jury and executioner of this young girl when you have NO F'N clue what she has had to endure at the hands of the adults (read: dolts) in her life. I cannot imagine what kind of a relationship you have with your children, but whatever you say if you say it is a positive one, I would not believe one word of it because you are just too plain negative and nasty to be a loving parent. I'll say this much...if 12 year old kids can be cruel and nasty and it goes unchecked, they grow up to be people like YOU.

Give me a break. You bleeding heart LIBERALS make me want to puke. Shame is a good way to teach a child there is consequences to their actions. Now all their children are in foster care, and I am sure they are very grate full the Police got involved. This kind of stuff is great fodder for the news media, but the family is not a bunch of criminals. Worry about the 2 younger siblings, going thru the trauma of being put in foster care, and pray they are not SEXUALLY abused while in the states custody. I agree they should have either cut her hair, or made her wear a diaper but it is not serious enough to have traumatized the younger children, by placing them in foster care.

Um, Jake? My husband is as conservative as one could be and he's absolutely horrified by this. Parenting does not run along party lines. I don't know how in the world you came up with that one, but you're making conservatives look bad.

So the press did not identify the parents in order to protect the girl's privacy, but an idiot saw the need to betray the girl by outing the parents. Too much possum in the brain?

NO. "The Press" DID identify the parents, just not MSNBC. My information came from the Huffington Post and other news sources. It's not as if I know these creeps. The only ones to have betrayed the child are her parents.