Can’t punish your kids?
A father plans to appeal after a Quebec court ruled that he didn’t have the right to punish his 12-year-old daughter by banning her from a school trip.Quebec Superior Court Madam Justice Suzanne Tessier ruled Friday that the girl should be allowed to attend the three-day trip within Quebec this week.
The father first forbade his daughter from going online after the Grade 6 student posted photos on a dating site, the Globe and Mail reported in its Thursday edition.The girl’s parents are divorced, and after she had an alleged row with her stepmother, the dad barred her from going on a school trip to mark the class’s graduation from elementary school, the newspaper says.
“When he said, ‘OK, it’s final. You’re not going,’ she smacked the door, left and went to live with her mother,” the father’s lawyer, Kim Beaudoin, told CBC News.
Last Wednesday, the dad received a motion petitioning the court to overturn the punishment.
Two days later, the justice ruled that the punishment was too severe since the girl had already been sufficiently disciplined, said Beaudoin.
Beaudoin said the justice also said there was no reason for the punishment to stand, since the girl was now living with her mother, even though the father has custody.
Beaudoin said the father, who has four children, was “devastated,” especially since the ruling came days before Father’s Day.
How was she sufficiently punished? She posted pictures on the internet! Grade 6, that means she’s 13, maybe 12.
Consequences. There has to be consequences from bad behaviour. Telling her not to go on the internet didn’t work.
Having a judge support her bad behaviour will give her the wrong impression. You can’t always win in real life, you can’t get away with tantrums.
Before someone tells me that the child just went through her parent’s divorce, let me add that posting pictures on an internet dating site is a great place to meet predators. Please consider that.
I’m with the DAD on this one. Right on. He cared enough to put his foot down. He is the only person who can keep his daughter safe. He’s been trying to do just that.
June 19th, 2008 at 20:50
Glad you posted this one; I held back as Quebec is your patch. I hope the Dad appeals and wins, otherwise the lunatics have definitely gained control of the asylum.
June 20th, 2008 at 4:09
Of course I could be wrong, I barely know anything about this guy. But if this is all I get, I honestly wonder how that judge got the job.