An unconventional parenting technique recently went viral after being posted to the online forum site Reddit. The post, titled "Parenting: They're doing it right," showed one father's Craigslist ad for a broken PS3 game console.
The ad reads:
I am in need of a broken PS3, even jut the shell would work. My two sons are in need of a lesson, their mother and I are absolutely sick and tired of repeating ourselves to these boys and I want to make them believe that I broke their PS3 in hopes of them learning to clean up after themselves.
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The unidentified parent said that he suspected some people might find his tactic ineffective or even too soft.
I know most of you will respond by saying these boys are in need of a good spanking, but that's just not the way we handle these situations. I want to smash their "PS3" in front of them, then ground them for a month.
While staged, the Craigslist dad's approach may remind parents of Tommy Jordan, the North Carolina father who gained Internet notoriety after shooting his teenage daughter's laptop on camera as punishment for a snarky Facebook post.
Jordan's fairly radical action drew mixed reviews, with 74 percent of "Today" Show viewers saying they agreed with him, while others, including HuffPost writer Lisa Belkin, suggesting he re-examine his approach.
Other disciplining trends that have recently made headlines include public shaming, in which children are made to wear signs proclaiming their bad attitudes or transgressions. In August, 13-year-old Brandon Mathison was forced to wear a sign that read, "Smoked Pot, got caught. Don't I look cool? Not."
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Craigslist approach had been given 26,166 "up votes," compared to 24,153 "down votes" on Reddit. The Imgur photo of the ad has been viewed 879,279 times.
No word on whether or not the father ever found a broken game console to smash.