Teen Forced To Hold 'I Steal From My Family' Sign On Street Corner As Punishment (VIDEO)
Last week, a North Carolina father shot his teenage daughter's laptop as punishment. Now, a Tennessee mother has made her 13-year-old daughter stand on a street corner holding a sign reading, "I steal from my family."
Natia Wade stood on the corner of an intersection in Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 12, as punishment for taking things without asking, ABC 24 reports.
Aunt Lauren Scales said Wade allegedly took her mother's debit card after the teen's cell phone was taken away. Scales told the station she wasn't exactly thrilled about shaming the teen in public, but she felt Wade had to learn a lesson.
"Don't get me wrong because you never want to put your child in this situation because they're fragile," the teen's aunt told ABC 24. "But with all of the things that are going on with kids stealing things and all the crime being committed in Memphis, she will not be one of them."
Wade's public shaming isn't the first of its kind.
Last year, Ronda Holder forced her 15-year-old son to stand on a street corner wearing a sign that displayed his low GPA.
The Florida mother said the teen didn't take school seriously and the tactic was her last attempt at getting through to her son, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
But a clinical psychologist said the public punishment bordered on emotional abuse.
"It's shame, embarrassment and humiliation," Arlinda Amos told the paper. "This will be a lifelong memory for him."
But Tommy Jordan, the father who shot his daughter's laptop and posted the video to YouTube, has since defended his actions, and even said he would do it again.
"My daughter isn't hurt, emotionally scarred, or otherwise damaged," Jordan wrote on his Facebook wall in an attempt to explain his decision not to speak with the media.
Would you publicly punish your child? Read what two HuffPost editors have to say about the topic.
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First Posted: 02/15/2012 1:15 pm Updated: 02/15/2012 2:05 pm