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Dad sells son's PS2 as punishment. (1 Viewer)

Ray Chuang

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Personally, I think a sale like this on eBay could raise the hackles of the Customer Service personnel at eBay and they should start asking serious questions about the seller.

In my humble opinion, this is a form of public humiliation that should not be tolerated. Does anyone remember that very bizzare award that a student got from a sports team coach at an awards banquet dinner that got the coach fired about a month ago? Punishing a child in the privacy of the home is one thing, but doing it in a public environment is quite something else altogether.

I remember about 16 years ago when I was eating lunch at a coffee shop with my late mother and she noticed at one table a family that had one child not eating anything and crying while the other family members were eating their meals. It really annoyed the other customers at the restaurant and I later found out that the manager of the restaurant also noticed that scene and quietly called the police to find out what's going on--the parents were questioned by the police to make VERY sure that this wasn't a case of serious child abuse.

And you wonder why many cast members (as Disneyland/Disney World employees are called) are trained to monitor families to make sure blatant child abuse in a public environment at the park doesn't happen.
 

Ricardo C

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Were the child's name, picture, or any other identifying elements displayed on the auction page? If not, then how is it public humiliation?
 

Todd Hochard

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I've never raised a hand to my 3yo daughter, and I can assure you she knows exactly who runs the show in the house. On the other hand, I've seen our friend's "hell-child" get the holy-crap beat out of her (by Mom), and spawn-of-Satan still walks all over Mom with golf shoes.

Consistency and actually being there go further than most parents (and childless people) care to think. I expect that selfishness is the driver here.
 

Moe Maishlish

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The child doesn't need to be identified to feel humiliated. The child will feel the humiliation because he/she feels that their transgression is being aired to the public, instead of within the confines of their own home. You don't need to be identified to feel humiliated & guilty - it becomes and internalized emotion, and it's only made worse when the parent flaunts the punishment (as was done in the context of the ebay posting), as if to say that the punishment is MEANT as humiliation.

Moe.
 

Nathan*W

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Nowhere in the auction does the seller say that that the child knows about selling the PS2 on Ebay. In fact, nowhere on the auction page does it say that the child is even aware that the item was even sold at all. From reading the auction description, from the child POV, his dad took his PS2 away and he doesn't know what happened to it. There's no evidence to suggest that he said to the child, "I'm selling this on Ebay" or the like.

But people in this thread shouldn't jump to conclusions.

It is perfectly reasonable to think that the seller took the PS2 from the child and just said, "You can't have this anymore" and didn't tell the child what he would do with it afterwords. The seller said himself that his main motivation was to recoop the money he lost.

No one can presume to know this parent's motivations and it's arrogant presumption to try. The only thing we have to go on, is what he said were his motivations.
 

Dave_Brown

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You're kidding, right? Posting an ad to sell the item on Ebay is public humiliation? Man, I wish my parents would have left it that when I was a kid and constantly screwing up and getting in trouble.
My punishment was pretty much getting grounded. But because I would still run out as soon as they left the house, I had to go along with them to any evening activities they were running and sit there bored out of my mind. Not only did I have to go along, but they would be sure to tell everyone what actions I had done to warrant the punishment, often emphasising the most embarassing details.
Parents hands are already tied to punishing the little brats these days, now we have to worry that actions are a form of public humiliation to the kid? Here's an idea, don't steal alcohol or destroy your parents property and your tender and oh-so-fragile emotions won't be in danger of being scared for life.
 

Chris

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In general, I find the concept of destroying property as a punishment to be one that has no longterm positive impacts. HOWEVER, in this case, the parent is saying that the child has accrued a damages bill of X and the item is being sold as a means to repay for the damages done.

I know of kids who have had this happen. IE, "I wrecked the car when I wasn't allowed to drive" Result: "You will mow lawns/whatever and you'll pay back every penny of cost"

In this case, what is being said is: "you caused X in damages to someone else's property. In the real world, you would have to pay for those damages, so you will."

Now, just blindly destroying something (throwing it off a cliff, out a window, whatever) accomplishes nothing.. it doesn't repair the damages done by the child and it offers you no ability to show a through line of action as to problem/resolution.

The comment as to emberrassment by the child.. maybe, but it's not some heinous thing that they will never live down.. I'm reminded of Bill Cosby's Chicken Heart "Come here, let me tell you what my kid did" ... I've always found shame to be a fairly effective punishment method, and I know of instances where things happened to kids where no punishment was dealt down because they knew the societal shame of it will be emberrassing enough. :)
 

Zen Butler

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Yeah, I'm tempted to e-mail the guy. I bet you he (the seller) is just a creative 16 year old trying to get rid of his raggeddy ass PS2.
 

Rob Gardiner

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I wish I could find the transript of Bill Maher's old rant that children have too much self esteem.

I'll repeat that for those of you who didn't get it the first time:

CHILDREN HAVE TOO MUCH SELF ESTEEM

Our society is so hyper-sensitive about avoiding anything that could possibly hurt a child's feelings (as if hurt feelings are the worst thing that can happen!!). This is why so many of them grow up to be trolls.

Just one example: several children participate in a competition (athletic, artistic, etc.). At the end, everybody wins a prize. Now this spares the "losers" any humiliation, and allows them to all leave as "winners". It also reinforces the message that success will come without any real effort. Success is something you are ENTITLED to. Back in his day, you didn't get an award for just showing up. It had to be earned.
 

Malcolm R

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Yep, our state basketball tournament used to require a .400 record to participate in the playoffs. Now every team is allowed to participate. Generally this means the 1-19 team getting their asses handed to them by the 20-0 team in the first round, but at least the losers can still say they "made the playoffs." :rolleyes
 

Citizen87645

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I know when I was a kid and got a medal or certificate for "showing up" I was fully aware it was a consolation prize. In a sense it was worse than getting nothing because it seemed I was only receiving it out of pity. So from my experience those things do not give one "too much self esteem." So I guess ultimately I don't like that practice but for different reasons than others have stated here.
 

Ted Lee

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damn, i guess i really have nothing to say.

well, okay ... maybe one or two completely random things...

one
the kid clearly went too far. drinking is not acceptable - he needs to be punished pretty severely. taking away the ps2 sounds reasonable under the circumstances.

two
someone made a good point about breaking stuff negating any punishment benefits. i got severly pissed at one of my boys and threw his remote control truck on the ground -- which promptly broke. hell, when i saw that i was more upset (because i felt guilty) then the boy did. i realized very quickly that i just tossed any respect he had for me out the window. i had to work pretty hard to get over that one.

three
everyone has to remember that kids are kids - they'll do the stupidest shit one day then blow your mind the next. i think it's really it's important to keep that in mind.

four
shit...forgot what i was going to say...

five
zen's babble about belly lint almost made me spit my drink.
 

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