She told the authorities she was punishing her son “for fighting and making homophobic remarks.”
We’ve read news stories before about judges sentencing defendants in non-traditional ways. Last year, for example, a South Euclid, Ohio, municipal judge sentenced a man to wear a sign in public that said, “I AM A BULLY! I pick on children that are disabled, and I am intolerant of those that are different from myself. My actions do not reflection an appreciation for the diverse South Euclid community that I live in.”
Are the actions of the South Carolina parent creative punishment, child abuse or something in the middle?
Our online readers are responding to this news story. Here is a sampling of their comments. What do you think? Please “like” our Facebook page to comment on this news story as well as many others. — Connie Post
- That mother was wrong, she has no idea how much she embarrassed that child. — SHIRLEY WILLIAMS
- She's basically teaching her son that it's somehow degrading to be a woman. Would she make a daughter parade around in pants? Not good. — STEPHEN CHARLES LONG II
- Since when is it anyone's place to tell her how to raise her son? Not something I would do, but it's not my child. — ELIZABETH WEAVER
- That is wrong and humiliating! Shame on her. There are better ways to address the situation. — ANGIE VANHOOSE
- Nobody's business. That's between the mother and her kid. Society doesn't raise children. — MATTHEW KEY
- That is straight-up child abuse. — APRIL OAKLEY
- It's her kid, she can do want she thinks is right. — CHUCK LAM
- Terrible … does she have no mothering common sense at all. — RITA PIPER- PHILLIPS
- Very inappropriate. — TRICIA LEMOINE
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