Mom Brings Her Son To Tears By Making Him Hold A Heavy Box In The Air After Finding Out He Bullied His Classmates
nimito | Shutterstock There is really no situation in which bullying should be tolerated, but how intense should the punishment be? A TikTok featuring a mom forcing her son to undergo physical punishment after being a bully went viral for that exact reason.
Different parents have different philosophies about all aspects of raising children, including the consequences they should face for wrongdoing. The video showcasing one mom’s form of punishment has illustrated just how divisive this issue can be.
A mom made her son hold up a heavy box after finding out he had been bullying his classmates.
Lawrencia Dixon shared footage of her son’s punishment for bullying his classmates, and it was honestly a bit tough to watch. The boy, who Dixon later identified as 10-year-old Chase, was holding a box of Kool-Aid Jammers at chest level while loudly sobbing.
“I know you better not drop it!” Dixon said when Chase lowered the box a bit. “You wanna go to school, and you wanna be bad, and you wanna not listen? This is what’s gonna happen every time. Move the elbows … I know it better not hit the ground!”
I honestly assumed there would be a lot of people who didn’t like seeing this kind of physical punishment, so I was surprised when Dixon’s comment section told a different story.
“Parents are parenting again. The world is healing,” one person said. “A mama out here taking accountability for [her] children,” another TikToker said. A third commenter added, “From a girl who used to get bullied in school, thank you!”
The mom made a second video to clarify why she felt her son needed to face this kind of consequence.
“So, Chase, tell the people what you learned from your punishment,” she instructed in the second post. “Did you like your punishment?” Chase was unsurprisingly quick to respond by shaking his head.
She continued, “So, the story on Chase is, I got a phone call from school … that said Chase decided to pull someone out of their chair that they were sitting in and take their chair … So, tell them what you learned from your punishment.”
Chase’s answer was a bit of a mixed bag. “I like to not bully people and not get in trouble at school no more,” he said, starting off promising. “Because, what?” his mom prompted. “‘Cause I didn’t like the punishment,” he admitted. “And it’s not the right thing to do!” she was quick to add.
The use of physical punishment is very nuanced and debatable.
Some commenters pointed out that they doubted the Kool-Aid box was really all that heavy, and they’re probably right. The box is labeled as having 40 pouches in it, but it had clearly been opened with some of the product removed before.
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Still, it calls into question the appropriateness of using physical punishment on children. In a review of 20 years of research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers noted that kids who experienced physical punishment were more likely to show aggressive behavior, antisocial behavior, mental health issues, and decreased cognitive ability.
However, StopBullying.gov shared that the problems children who are bullied face can be just as bad, and include mental health issues, lower grades, relationship problems, decreased self-esteem, more risky behavior, and even physical health issues.
It’s a difficult and multi-faceted situation to be sure. Many people would disagree with the use of physical punishment, and it has been proven to be harmful, but you also can’t let bullying continue. It may be possible that there’s just no other way to get through to some kids.
But this is a 10-year-old kid we’re talking about. We don’t know if he has any history of bullying, but given what happened, there would probably already have been a video like this if he did. If he were a first-time offender, it might have made sense to do something a bit less harsh. Then again, after experiencing something like that, there probably won’t be a second offense.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
