When it comes to bullying, it is something that is never, ever okay. Sadly, it happens all the time. In schools, in the workplace, online. If you have ever been bullied, you will know all too well how much it can affect you. When it comes to teenagers, bullying is rife. According to Pacer, one out of every five (20.2%) students reports being bullied. As a parent, what measures would you put in place to ensure your child was not bullying another? And, if you found out that your kid was a bully, how would you handle the situation? Bullying is never excusable but this dad might have taken it a little too far when his daughter bullied another girl with Cancer. I am not sure I can agree with a parent who shaves his daughter’s hair off as punishment, then again, what she did was not to be taken lightly, either…Please note, this story has not been verified and has since been removed from Reddit.
Dad finds out his child is a bully
Making news recently, be dad found out that his daughter had been bullying a girl in her school. This girl, however, had cancer and recently shaved her head. Therefore, she was wearing a wig. His daughter made fun of her and even pulled her wig off. Sharing to a post on Reddit, which has since been removed from the platform, the dad said:
“My ex-wife and I have a 16-year-old daughter together of which I have full custody (she has moved on with her new family)… My daughter recently got in trouble at school for making fun of a student that lost her hair from cancer treatment. Including pulling off her wig.”
“Apparently there is some pre-existing bad blood between the two of them, but I don’t think that even begins to excuse her behavior.”
“At some point the other girl mentioned how my daughter’s boyfriend was just using her for sex (this was actually a big shock to me as I had no idea she was sexually active) and called my daughter a sl*t. That’s what escalated the situation and resulted in the wig incident. Supposedly they have been arguing in class ever since my daughter started dating the guy in question. Basically just stupid teenage ‘he said she said’ nonsense.”
So…he shaves his daughter’s hair as punishment
This is where the controversy comes in. The dad offered his daughter two options as punishment, either he shaves his daughter’s hair off, or, she can have all her electronics taken away.
“I will throwaway every single piece of electronics she owns and never buy her another again (this was just to coerce her into choosing option 2).”
Option two was not a great choice, either.
“She will go to the hairdresser and get a cue ball haircut. As in, a completely shaved head, as bald as the hairdresser can do.”
The girl opted to have her hair shaved off. According to the post, her mother was not happy at all, even stating that if he shaves his daughter’s hair, she would become the new target of bullying.
Did he go too far?
Was shaving his daughter’s hair a tad too far? People on the Reddit thread seemed to lean towards yes. It was too much! One user said:
“Your daughter is a bully because you are a bully. I seriously doubt this is the first time you used abuse and humiliation to ‘teach her a lesson.’”
Another user agreed, even saying that what the father did was child abuse:
“There’s a term for what you did. It’s called child abuse. Taking away her electronics would have been an appropriate punishment. Grounding her would have been an appropriate punishment. Disrespecting her right to bodily autonomy and humiliating her is not an appropriate punishment. She’s unlikely to learn from it and if anything it risks perpetuating a cycle of bullying.”
What are your thoughts? Do you think he took it too far? What would you have done if it had been your daughter who was the bully? let us know in the comments!
