A mother made her two children walk to school in Canada through the snow because they had been disrespectful to their bus driver.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, a mom from Harrow, Ontario, shared that she had to take measures into her own hands after receiving a call from her boys’ school.
‘That drew the line for me! This morning we did a 7 km walk to show them what everyday will be like for them when they get kicked off the bus!’ she said in the post, obtained by CBC but with the names removed. ‘2 hours later they made it!’
A mom from Harrow, Ontario, made her two sons walk to school after they were disrespectful to their bus driver
In the post, the boys can be seen holding a sign that says ‘Being bad and rude to our busdriver! Moms makin us walk.’ They walked 7km which is equivalent to four miles. The children look to be in elementary school.
The mother told the publication that her older son learned his lesson but added that the younger one needed to walk a second day.
She accompanied her children along the walk and the photos reveal that the small town’s barren roads had barely any traffic.
In the post, the boys can be seen holding a sign that says ‘Being bad and rude to our busdriver! Moms makin us walk’
After getting her fair share of criticism, the mother decided to call the Children’s Aid Society to explain what she had done.
The CAS office would not confirm or deny that that took place or whether they would investigate what happened.
Tina Gatt, manager of community outreach at the CAS office in Windsor-Essex, added that it was a ‘logical consequence’ to have kids walk to school to show the repercussions of acting up. A red flag would be if there was a safety hazard, which Gatt mentioned, didn’t seem like the case.
Tina Gatt, manager of community outreach at the CAS office in Windsor-Essex, added that it was a ‘logical consequence’ to have kids walk to school to show the repercussions of acting up
However, Gatt did assert that public ‘shaming’ was not the best decision.
‘I don’t want to judge or pretend to know all of the nuances of this situation with this parent, but [it’s] something to consider when we think about putting signs on kids that says what the bad behaviour is and putting them in a position where you take their picture and put it on social media,’ she said.
‘We would be concerned, and not just Children’s Aid, we should be concerned as adults, about shaming children.’
The woman claimed that shaming ‘simply is not going to motivate children to be better.’
Gatt did add that the mother could have posted the photos to seek affirmation for her actions, from other parents.
‘For this parent, perhaps it was to get some acknowledgement from her peer group to say ‘Is this right?” Gatt chimed. ‘But just to be shaming children is not motivating for good behaviour.’