Ohio father Matt Cox’s punishment for daughter Kirsten Cox goes viral as she walks miles in the snow
An Ohio father’s lesson on bullying has gone viral across the Internet. Matt Cox followed his daughter in his car as she walked five miles to school after being suspended from the bus for bullying.
“Let me make this extremely clear, bullying is unacceptable, especially in my household,” Cox is heard saying in the video, shared on Monday.
“A lot of children today feel that the things their parents do for them is a right and not a privilege, such as parents taking their children to school in the morning. Or even bus rides to school in the morning. All of that is a privilege and should be treated as such. So today my beautiful daughter is going to walk five miles to school in 36-degree weather.”
Kirsten, age 10, is shown walking on the side of the road as Cox, of Swanton, followed closely. Check out the clip below.
Although many social media users applauded the father for taking action, some accused of “public shaming,” and wrote in the video’s comment section that he had gone overboard with the lesson.
“Parents need to hold their kids accountable. That was me showing how I hold my kid accountable,” Cox told the station. “I’m not going to be another parent that’s just going to brush things under the rug and say kids will be kids.”
“I was bullied many times by kids bigger than me,” Kirsten told WTVG, and Cox noted that Kirsten’s punishment was split over the course of her three-day suspension. She walked the final two miles on Wednesday.
Cox updated the Facebook post on Wednesday, writing, “Life lessons!!!!”
“UPDATE: lesson learned! Still has all her extremities intact is happy and healthy and seems to have a new outlook on bullying as well as a new appreciation for some of the simple things in life she used to take for granted #HOLDOURKIDSACOUNTABLE #STOPBULLYING,” he continued.
Some comments:
“As the grandparent of an autistic boy who has been the victim of neighborhood bullies, I applaud you! Too many parents do nothing,” read one reply.
Read another: “Wish more parents took the time to hold their children accountable for unacceptable behavior.”
On the other side:
“Humiliate her by putting her on Facebook being punished. Irony,” one user commented.
“Ok but wait, is she bullying other kids or did you stop to hear her explanation?” said another.
“Was she reacting to being bullied and just got caught? If public shaming is your idea of punishment no wonder she’s acting out.”
