Fed-Up Dad Attempts To Teach His Daughter A Lesson By Moving Her Bedroom To The Driveway

When His Daughter Refused To Clean Her Room, Dad Got Creative With Her Punishment

Drastic times call for drastic measures, which for one Georgia dad, meant transporting his child's entire bedroom to the driveway.

When Craig Schlichenmeyer's daughter refused to clean her room, he decided to get creative with her punishment."One day I had enough of it so I set up her room in the driveway," dad, who put his kid's bed, desk, computer, and bookcase on display for all to see, told WTOC.

bedroom driveway

Despite putting a sign in front of the setup saying, "Haley, Room Moved To Driveway. Clean It Next Time," dad maintains he wasn't trying to shame her. "She's a great student, we're proud of her," he said. "My intention was just to surprise her and let her know we were serious about taking ownership and pride in her room... and doing the right thing. When we tell her to clean it up, clean it up."

But this isn't the case for all publicly shamed teens whose parents really do intend to embarrass them. Last September, a Utah dad wore "short-shorts" outside to show his daughter why he doesn't want her wearing them. Another mom in Texas made her 12-year-old son hold a sign for incoming traffic that said "I was suspended from school for cussing out my teacher."

While these punishments might seem justified -- after all, even Schlichenmeyer said he has a right to discipline his daughter as he sees fit -- experts say these tactics aren't effective.

Alfie Kohn, author of Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason, once told The Huffington Post that humiliating kids teaches them lessons, but the wrong ones. He explains that the methods show kids the following:

(1) My parent isn't a caring ally whom I can trust but an enforcer I should try to avoid, (2) When you have a problem with what someone else has done, you should just use power to make the other person do what you want, and (3) The reason not to steal (or lie or hurt people) isn't because of how it affects others but because of the consequence you, yourself, will face if you're caught.

Lisa Belkin, Yahoo Correspondent and former HuffPost columnist, echoes Kohn's sentiment, and speculates that this trend, though seemingly harsh, isn't a surprise in our time. "In a moment when so much else in life is lived out loud and in public, it would follow, in a backwards and disjointed kind of way, that the method of discipline as old as The Scarlet Letter would seem fitting in a modern age," she wrote.

According to New York Daily News, Haley and her father have reconciled. But with the photo of the driveway shared thousands of times on Facebook, the two can forgive, but it may take a little while longer to forget.

Before You Go

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