Did this Florida mother cross the line?

I give the MOM a million raves. We need more mothers like that in the world. So many people forget that it was not that long along when tough love was every where and the world was a better place.

I'm tempted to do the same thing with my youngest. We're seeing a psychologist and I've tried everything, I'm hoping that good old fashioned fear will snap her out of this spell before she actually becomes a convict.

That might have been a bit too young.

Well, she couldn't spank him for playing with fire. And I'm sorry, I have three kids - you can't always EXPLAIN that something is bad and expect a 5 year old to understand. Of course, if the kid had not been "punished" for playing with fire and had set the neighbor's house on fire (accidently), the first question would have been, "why didn't the parents teach that child that playing with fire was bad?" And I'll be the crying woman either has no kids, or her kids will wind up getting arrested - for real, before they are 16.

I agree with you!

I think the mother was just trying to put the fear of God in the child.

Playing with matches is bad, but um... that's when teaching your child the difference between right and wrong comes into play. Getting arrested is way off.

It is remarkable that the top comment is from someone who is advocating that assaulting our children is an acceptable form of discipline.

This is abuse, plain and simple. The Sheriff's Deputy who agreed to do this should be punished, too.

Its amazing that you feel a spanking is assaulting a child.
You sound like someone that would talk your child to death instead of just punishing them and getting on with life.
This child will remember this forever and hopefully never do it again.
So sorry you disagree with me.

Corporal punishment is a needed & necessary tool to correctly raise a child.

Having the child endure a simulated arrest is not needed, not necessary, and is tantamount to committing the intentional infliction of emotional distress, an extreme measure in this case.

This is especially abhorrent because the child in that video is only FIVE YEARS OLD.

I'm sure that the taxpayers of that county in which the deputy works, did not intend to have their tax-dollars go towards having a deputy assault a child at the behest of their mother. As I said before, that Sheriff Deputy should be punished too.

She was the lady's friend. She wasn't on-duty at the time. Even if she was, I'll bet this child will think three times before it does something bad again.

You should take a look at Jeff's comment, below.

It is the parent's responsibility to secure dangerous items and prevent children from harming themselves and others.

So the mom screwed up. Or maybe somebody else in the house. When I was 5, I could do things I knew were wrong.
This kid was scared straight.
I'm rightside and I approved this message.

"I'm rightside and I approved this message."

???

Its a joke. Like what the politicians do.
Just suppose to be funny, that's all.

If a husband resorted to "intimidation/scare tactics" to obtain the obedience of his wife, he would be accused of abusing her. This is no different.

Your opinion, not mine.

Big difference. Adult vs. child.

You can't keep everything from them all the time. What if they go to someone elses house? Simple things like a nickle can kill a child. How far are you expecting people to go?

And the child was being "arrested" by a family friend. The child did NOT go to jail. This was no worse than the mom telling her kid, "wait until your father gets home."

Assult? I saw nothing about assult. It's because of people like you that parents are affraid to spank their kids in public. Almost everyone my age was spanked as a child and it didn't produce a larger number of criminals.

thats awful!

This is another case of the little libs going to far with their don't damage his little ego. Yes this mother is right. What if this kid plays with matches when the whole family is asleep and he burns down the house. stupid little libbys Not all things can be solved by patting them on the head and telling them good job.

Although it might have worked, I feel that the police might have had something better to do.

I say this is a shame and a sign of the times. When a Fatherless Family has to resort to lawenforcement to disipline a child. Now if this isn't a Fatherles Family then I would ask, were was the Father.

I would have to know all of the details involved. Were the matches easily accessible? Did the mother repeatedly try to correct him and was at wits end?

Brilliant. How did the kid have access to the matches or lighters?? Every kid at that age dorks around with matches and lighters if they have access. Interestingly, crazy white trash (and probably chain-smoking) mom thinks it's suitable to invoke the police power through her friend due to her inability to be a good parent. "ARREST MY LITTLE CRIMINAL CHILD!! (or pretend to) This way my little nipper won't EVER do anything wrong!"

This mom is like Livia Soprano. Is she trying to build a sociopath? Two words. False imprisonment. I think a child with a propensity to lying is far worse than one playing with matches. With proper supervision, playing with matches is a non-issue. How would this parent deal with her Damien Omen lying? Maybe she can have her high school friend coming back from a tour in Iraq waterboard little Damien for telling a fib?? Scare tactics. Right...... She crossed the line. And I'm very conservative.

Great point, Jeff.

The mother should hold herself accountable for enabling the child to gain access to the matches. No one would be blaming the child if it was a gun that he was repeatedly getting and playing with.

Instead, everyone would be screaming at the top of their lungs that the mother is responsible for securing the gun, and that the child was only being a child by getting the gun and playing with it.

its hard to say for me, but if he was a little older. he is a 5 year old! not a 16 year old. personally this disgusts me, but how do you do it another way?

Perhaps, perhaps not.
I think the kid should have just gotten the belt. That's what would have happened to me, that's what would have happened if my child was playing with matches.

too bad the mother is incapable of the correct discipline and guidance herself. poor little boy. he was probably terrified.

i bet he was terrified, and you know what after all of that he told him mother that he would never play with matches again. what is the correct form of discipline when you've tried taking away toys, grounding him ect?

What's wrong with this?

Scare Tactics can be a good way to discipline your child.

I never use to wear my seat belt when I was little. One day a cop pulled my mom over and scared the crap out of me. Ever since then I've always worn my seat belt.

A few years back I lost control of my vehicle and messed myself up. If I hadn't worn my seat belt, it could have been a lot worse.

Kudos to you, Florida Mother!

Great comment! Thanks for sharing that and I'm glad you were not hurt any worse than you were.

Me too! The damage to the truck suggested that I didn't survive. When my brother went to the lot a man asked, 'She didn't make it, did she?'

To this day I still can't find the pictures that were taken of the truck. I don't know what happened to them.

For some folks, irregardless of age, they need to have a lesson that they will remember. The mother knows the child way better than us that have viewed the scene of the boy in handcuffs. You know that children will get scolded, maybe spanked for some mischef, and repeat THAT no no again and again. The child was not taught a lesson that took hold enough that they would not repeat the wrong doing. I don't have to tell you how serious a fire can be. Loss of property is hard enough to deal with. A loss of life, even more so. I side with the mother in using her friend to help drive the point home to the child that he WILL remember. It may seem harsh to some of you...But, you don't know the childs personality or just how close he came to doing something REALLY serious that caused the mother to take the action she did. The child was NOT harmed. But, I think he will remember this lesson.

I completely agree with your comment. I came into this with mixed feelings. They're still a little mixed, but I still agree with your comment wholeheartedly. Thank you for leaving a very respectful comment without bashing either the mother or her son.

Stupid woman evidently wanted a photo op. She should team up with BO.
Obviously she isn't smart enough to correct a 5 year old.
I just don't agree with what she did. She could have swatted him and sent him to his room instead.

My understanding is that this is not the first time this child was playing with matches. It seems to me this mother was trying to exhaust any options she could think of to teach her child not to do this anymore. I think he would have been more traumatized if he had killed someone rather than felt handcuffs around his wrists, and that trauma would have lasted the rest of his life. So, while this may have been extreme, I don't think this mom was just seeking a photo op for attention.

I still think if she had smacked his butt and taken away all fun privileges, it would have worked. No-I wouldn't want their family to be at risk-but if I were his mom, he would have plenty of chores to do to take his mind off the matches. If that didn't do it, he'd be seeing a shrink.
Who really knows unless we are in that particular person's shoes. I watched that on the news and that's why I came to the conclusion about the photo op.