A (now) viral video has people talking! Milwaukee mom Lorraine Walls chose a fitting – if unusual punishment when she caught her 12-year-old daughter disobeying her on Facebook. Daughter Luticia had been suspended from school over a fight she planned on the social media site.Quite naturally, her mother banned the young girl from returning to the site. Perhaps you can ‘fool Mother Nature’ but Luticia should know by now that she can’t fool Lorraine Walls! Mom not only discovered her daughter disobeying, by using Facebook with a false identity, but she was also chatting with a young man, and plotting a fight with her friend.
Luticia’s mother felt the punishment should fit the crime, and be memorable enough that the 12-year-old would be disinclined to think of bullying, fighting, dating and mainly – disobeying her mother! That’s when Mrs. Walls made a video, which has teens and adults discussing whether she went too far. In the film, Ms. Walls dispenses with the false identity by asking her daughter to reveal her real name, which was on her original Facebook page. A description of the video follows:
Ms. Walls then says to her daughter: ‘Tell them that you can’t be on Facebook,’ and makes her daughter repeat after her: ‘I can’t have a boyfriend.’
Ms Walls then says: ‘I’m reading my Bible, get your Bible, show them that you’re reading your Bible.’
But as she demands to know who has been posting on her daughter’s page, she can be heard saying: ‘Don’t get slapped, cause you’re already in hot water.’
And, as she orders her daughter to pick up her Bible, Ms Walls says: ‘Don’t play with me cause I’ll push the hell out of you.’ She then added: ‘You being blessed right now that I’m not punching the hell out of you for being disrespectful, rude and suspended and fighting.’
While many supported the mother’s decision to ban her young daughter from using Facebook, Ms Walls was heavily criticized for saying on film that she would ‘beat the hell’ out of her daughter if she caught her using the site again. Ms Walls defended her actions, telling CBS58 that she doesn’t hit her child. ‘She doesn’t get whippings, she’s not getting beat, she doesn’t get abused,’ Ms Walls said. ‘We have to save our kids.’
Did Ms. Walls go overboard with the language? To her credit, she did not hit her daughter. In no place did the film resemble the Cossacks attacking Pussy Riot in Russia.
I’m inclined to ask where the parents of other kids are?! This mother cares enough to take the time necessary to keep tabs on her daughter.To her credit, even subterfuge did not work on her. It appears that teen suicides are at an all time high – here in the US and in other countries as well. More often than not, the tragic acts are linked to bullying which is aided by social media like Facebook.
No one wants to see a young girl shamed, or an angry mother, but fighting has become commonplace with girls, and being ostracized has the power to kill. Perhaps whatever means are needed to change a child’s behavior until they can control it themselves is necessary? What do you think?