Parenting is often like walking a tightrope while juggling flaming swords—one misstep, and things can really catch fire! So, when one father discovered his 16-year-old daughter had gone from teenager to tormentor by bullying a classmate with cancer, he took immediate action that sparked a social media wildfire.
Yep, you read that right. It all started when the dad, who has full custody of his daughter after parting ways with his ex-wife, learned that his darling child had yanked the wig off a peer undergoing cancer treatment. Talk about bad hair day.
This father, seeing red and probably imagining his ears blowing off steam like an angry cartoon character, decided to administer a punishment that made the internet explode. He forced his daughter to choose between losing all her beloved electronics or shaving her head bald. Guess what she picked? Yep, bald is the new beautiful!
In his now-deleted post, Dad spilled the whole saga. Apparently, there was bad blood between the girls because, plot twist, the cancer-stricken girl had previously dated the current boyfriend of the wig-snatcher. Teenage drama at its peak! The victim had allegedly accused the daughter of being nothing more than a fling for her boyfriend, flinging an insult that sparked the hair-raising event.
So, to dish out some hardcore parenting, he gave her the two choices. Naturally, the daughter went with the follicle farewell rather than parting with her gadgets.
The backlash was swift and fiery. “Everyone thinks I went way overboard. Her mother went ballistic at me saying it will make her the target of bullying (kind of the point, teach her some compassion),” the father defended himself online.
And of course, the internet didn’t mince words. The digital lynch mob—uhm, I mean, concerned netizens—were there with their digital pitchforks to proclaim him the worst dad of the century. Comments ranged from calling him a bully to labeling his actions as downright child abuse.
“Your daughter is a bully because you are a bully. I seriously doubt this is the first time you used abuse and humiliation to ‘teach her a lesson,’” chided one furious user.
“There’s a term for what you did. It’s called child abuse,” another critique added, dripping with digital disdain. “Taking away her electronics would have been an appropriate punishment. Grounding her would have been an appropriate punishment. Disrespecting her right to bodily autonomy and humiliating her is not an appropriate punishment. She’s unlikely to learn from it and if anything it risks perpetuating a cycle of bullying.”
Not everyone was against the dad’s choice though. Some rallied behind him, cheering him on like a misunderstood underdog. “She will see what kind of impact actions like hers have on the victim and that will teach her a very important lesson,” a supporter remarked, voting Dad in as