Doing parenting right is always easier said than done. In hopes of teaching their children how to become respected individuals who would respect others in return, parents are sometimes opting for some unconventional methods.
Recently, one mom’s Reddit post got the attention of many after she explained how she forced her daughter sleep outside during the cold weather after she offended a homeless man. As she explained it, it all started when she saw a video of her daughter Jessica telling the homeless man not to ask her for money, adding: “You’d earn it yourself if you weren’t so f***ing lazy and spending what you earned on substances.” After he could be heard complaining about sleeping outside during the cold weather, Jessica replies: “Yeah people camp for fun, even in December, you can’t complain, you’re living someone’s holiday.”
The mom was shocked. She couldn’t believe her daughter could be so inconsiderate. “I thought I had raised an empathetic daughter,” she wrote on Reddit.
After the incident, the mom made Jessica apologize to the homeless man and pay $20 for a room in a hotel so that he could spend the night there. Jessica did that, but her mother could tell her apology wasn’t sincere as the girl could be seen rolling her eyes. That is why she decided that it would be for the best if Jessica got a taste of her own medicine.
“I locked her bedroom door so she couldn’t go in, put a sign on it saying closed for the holidays, pitched a tent in the garden and filled it with blankets and the sleeping bag I used when I was camping in Norway on a family holiday as a teen (aka really bloody thermal),” the mom wrote.
She was sure she was doing the right thing until her sister called her and told her that her punishment was way too severe.
It was then that the mother decided to share the whole story with the fellow Redditors and ask for advice. Needless to say, most of them praised her for her creative way of teaching Jessica a lesson and called her an awesome mom.
The mom further explained that after she got home from work the following day, Jessica did complain for having to spend the night outside, but she was in the kitchen preparing meals for the homeless in the neighborhood, so it was all worth it.
As for the homeless man, the mom is now helping him find a job. He is 25 and had to go through a lot during his life. We hope everything will turn for the best for him. As for Jessica, we are glad she learned empathy and we know she would be a much better person in the future.