Haircuts to Signs: Public Shaming to Make Kids Straighten Up
Judges, parents and even teachers are using embarrassment as punishment.
June 26, 2012 — -- intro: While Valerie Bruno says she now regrets cutting off her daughter Kaytlen Lopan's ponytail in exchange for a shorter community service sentence for the 13-year-old, other parents have been in the news recently for publicly -- and without regret -- shaming their children in hopes of correcting their bad behavior.
Kaytlen had been given 30 days in detention and 276 hours of community service in May for allegedly cutting the hair of a 3-year-old without the consent of the preschooler or the child's mother. She'd also harassed another student by telephone.
The judge reportedly handed scissors over to Bruno and offered to reduce the community service hours if Kaytlen's hair was shorn.
"An eye for an eye -- that's not how you teach kids right from wrong," Bruno of Price, Utah, told the Deseret News in an article last week.
Bruno said she had filed a complaint with the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission but several parents -- and in one case, a teacher -- recently have taken to action similar to that of the judge to discipline the children in their care.
quicklist: 1url: title: 'I Lie, I Steal'
text: Indiana mother Dynesha Lax was criticized nationally for making her 14-year-old son wear a sign proclaiming: "I lie, I steal, I sell drug, I don't follow the law." Lax defended her actions, saying that she had tried other methods of punishment with no success.
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quicklist: 2url: title: Ponytail Cutting
text: Valerie Bruno holds up a photo of her three daughters outside the Carbon County Court Complex in Price, Utah. Bruno is filing a complaint against Judge Scott Johansen for telling her to cut off her daughter's ponytail to reduce the 13-year-old's required community service. The teenager was being punished for cutting a three-year-old's hair with dollar store scissors.
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quicklist: 3url: title: 'I Have a Bad Attitude'
text: Quandria Bryant's father made her walk up and down busy Highway 17 in New Bern, N.C., carrying a large sign that read on one side: "I have a bad attitude I disrespet [sic] people who try to help me." The other side read: "I do what I want, when I want, how I want it." The punishment came after the 15-year-old was suspended from school for being disrespectful to others.
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quicklist: 4url: title: 'Catastrophe Award'
text: Christina Valdez holds up a school award given to her 8-year-old daughter. The girl received the "Catastrophe Award" for having the most excuses for not having homework. Valdez told ABC affiliate KGUN-TV that her third-grade daughter, Cassandra Garcia, received the controversial award from her teacher in front of her classmates at the Desert Springs Academy in Tucson, Aria.
Valdez said her daughter is still humiliated by the award, which was signed and dated by the teacher and even included a smiley face.
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quicklist: 5url: title: Exit From Instagram
text: ReShonda Tate Billingsley banned her 12-year-old daughter from Instagram after she caught the girl posing with a Vodka bottle. The Texas mom had her daughter post a new picture to Instagram holding a sign reading: "Since I want to post photos of me holding liquor, I am obviously not ready for social media and will be taking a hiatus until I learn what I should (and) should not post. Bye-bye."
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