Mom of the Year

[Outta Here]

All over social media there is a recent effervescent flow of praise for the woman in this news clip: /http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/baltimore-mom-to-see-my-son-at-riots-with-rock-in-hand-i-just-lost-it/

I am baffled by the response of the masses. Is this what great parenting has ebbed to these days? Whatever happened to Proverbs 22:6Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Why the overflowing praise of a mother who had to restrain her son physically to keep him from trouble? What of all the other mothers out there who have taken the time, bit by bit, little by little, daily training their children from infancy forward to be responsible before anything like this instance could happen? Should they not be #motheroftheyear?

 

Thoughts?

[Gregory Matthews]

Seems to me that she had done exactly that.

 

But, her son had exercised his free choice and gone in a different direction.

 

The idea that a child who goes in a direction different from that of the parents is due to the failure of the parents to properly train the child is simply garbage.  God created with free choice and children can chose to go differently from the parents.

 

Parents are no always at fault.

[CoAspen]

I remember being 16!

 

I agree with Greg.

[Liz]

The verse says "when he is old he will not depart from it", it doesn't say anything about those middle years.

[bonnie]

What does the text in Proverbs mean?

[LifeHiscost]

All over social media there is a recent effervescent flow of praise for the woman in this news clip: /http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/baltimore-mom-to-see-my-son-at-riots-with-rock-in-hand-i-just-lost-it/

I am baffled by the response of the masses. Is this what great parenting has ebbed to these days? Whatever happened to Proverbs 22:6Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Why the overflowing praise of a mother who had to restrain her son physically to keep him from trouble? What of all the other mothers out there who have taken the time, bit by bit, little by little, daily training their children from infancy forward to be responsible before anything like this instance could happen? Should they not be #motheroftheyear?

 

Thoughts?

I don't know of the better spot to pick up the story, but this gave a better view to me. And I'm watching a program now from GLC that points out that being a Christian isn't for sissies. Being in a religious atmosphere doesn't always bring out the results for which we would hope. Remember Jesus' response to the money changers in the temple.

 

http://tinyurl.com/kgohpdr

 

God is Love!  Jesus saves! 

[Sojourner]

I am not familiar with the local laws where her and her son are, yet if he goes on to cause damage of public property and joins in with others to engage in a riot, then I suspect there is a strong chance he will get arrested if identified and get a criminal record for life along with whatever the magistrate determines has to be served as punishment. Personally I think she is right to intervene and do something to stop the lad going down that pathway. He may well end up thanking her one day for it. Anyone that raises a child as a single parent is doing the job of both a mother and a father and its easy to sit back in your armchair and criticise, another to walk the walk yourself. 

[Bravus]

From a slightly different perspective, though, I'm not sure 'Mother of the Year' and 'repeatedly beat your child about the head' belong in the same paragraph. Extreme circumstances, sure, but domestic violence is still domestic violence.

[Bravus]

On the other hand, for a young black man in America, getting *arrested* is the *good* outcome... given the number who get shot.

[Outta Here]

From a slightly different perspective, though, I'm not sure 'Mother of the Year' and 'repeatedly beat your child about the head' belong in the same paragraph. Extreme circumstances, sure, but domestic violence is still domestic violence.

That's one of my thoughts regarding the "Mother of the Year" title. It just doesn't make sense to me. 

[Outta Here]

I am not familiar with the local laws where her and her son are, yet if he goes on to cause damage of public property and joins in with others to engage in a riot, then I suspect there is a strong chance he will get arrested if identified and get a criminal record for life along with whatever the magistrate determines has to be served as punishment. Personally I think she is right to intervene and do something to stop the lad going down that pathway. He may well end up thanking her one day for it. Anyone that raises a child as a single parent is doing the job of both a mother and a father and its easy to sit back in your armchair and criticise, another to walk the walk yourself. 

I apologize if I made it seem as if I did not think this mother should have intervened. By all means, yes! I'm glad she did. What bothers me is the frequency with which parents are being praised these days for using violent restraint, public shaming and/or other drastic measures that somehow catch the eye of social media. In my opinion, these are not examples of great parenting, they are examples of extreme measures taken when a bit of day-to-day parental involvement would have prevented the need in the first place.

[Sojourner]

I apologize if I made it seem as if I did not think this mother should have intervened. By all means, yes! I'm glad she did. What bothers me is the frequency with which parents are being praised these days for using violent restraint, public shaming and/or other drastic measures that somehow catch the eye of social media. In my opinion, these are not examples of great parenting, they are examples of extreme measures taken when a bit of day-to-day parental involvement would have prevented the need in the first place.

 

That is true that social media and public shaming does seem to be the order of the day, I recall an incident where a father or stepfather, I cannot remember which took a side arm and shot his daughters lap top and filmed it for social media which was applauded by a number of people. - In that case its openly extreme and a social phenomina. Yet in this case I am not sure that the mother was even aware that she was being filmed, nor posted it to social media. I suspect it to more a case of voyerism by another member of the public.

 

My cousin raised her daughter on her own after they were abandonded by her father before she was born. I have never been in that position but from what I have seen it is hard work to be a single parent. Its not neccessarly the case that parental involvement prior to this incident may have prevented it, there may be all manner of issues in play. My hope is that a local church reaches out to this lady and her son and embraces them. I think its a challenge to all of us not to leave people that are sole parents on their own to parent thier children, but to try and help in any way that we can. I am not about motherhood statements, but perhaps what the young lad needs is a father figure in his life to interact with him and help him develop some of the life skills that make people walk away from that kind of behaviour?