When it comes to parenting, there are many different ways to handle situations, and as long as you consider the child’s well-being, you’re not likely to go wrong. However, that doesn’t mean everyone will agree with your decisions.
Recently, one mother’s choice stirred quite the discussion online. She wanted to teach her daughter a lesson after she shouted at a homeless man, so she decided to have her daughter spend the night in a tent in their backyard.
This story was initially shared on Reddit but was later removed. Fortunately, it’s saved forever in the web archive. Here’s what happened and how it unfolded.
I am a 34-year-old single mom with two daughters, Jasmine, 16, and Jessica, 14. Sadly, their father passed away while I was pregnant with Jessica. Life was incredibly tough; we hit rock bottom, barely scraping by from one paycheck to the next. Through sheer determination, I earned a degree, found success, and now we live comfortably. Because of these experiences, my daughters understand the struggles of being at the lower end of society, which is why I was furious when Jessica behaved insensitively towards a homeless man.
It all started when Jasmine showed me a video of Jessica swearing at a homeless man and telling him, ‘Stop asking me for money. You’d earn it yourself if you weren’t so lazy and spent your earnings on substances.’ When the homeless man mentioned being cold, Jessica retorted, ‘People camp for fun, even in December, so you can’t complain. You’re living someone’s holiday.’
I was beyond words with anger, feeling I had failed to instill empathy in my daughter. To make amends, I decided not just to find the homeless man for an apology and cover a night’s hotel stay (£20 from Jessica’s pocket), but also to sign her up for volunteering at a food bank. And to drive the point home, I locked her bedroom and put up a sign saying it was ‘Closed for the holidays.’ I then set up a tent in our garden filled with blankets and a very thermal sleeping bag from a past family trip to Norway. For safety, I slept in the room closest to the garden that night.
Jessica was hesitant at first but agreed to this over losing her phone until the Christmas holidays were over. The next morning, she was in tears, sharing how uncomfortable it was on the cold mat with interruptions from birds. I comforted her and then asked if she could imagine experiencing that every night like the homeless man. The realization hit her hard, and she genuinely cried over her actions. Her earlier rolling eyes and half-hearted apology seemed insincere compared to her current remorse.
That afternoon, upon returning home, I found Jessica preparing a big meal to donate to the homeless people near our house. Her transformation filled me with pride. Later, we delivered the food together, and my sister came over. Through a conversation between my nephew and Jessica at school, he learned about her afternoon plans to cook for the homeless and shared the story with his mom.
My sister felt that my punishment was too harsh, suggesting that just the £20 donation and food bank volunteering would have sufficed. She believed I acted irrationally due to my own difficult past. Now, I find myself second-guessing my actions. Was I too strict?
