A father’s lesson on bullying got the Internet’s attention after sharing a video of his daughter walking 5 miles to school as a punishment after she was suspended for bullying her classmate.
Matt Cox, from Swanton Ohio, posted a Facebook video and said that his 10-year-old daughter, Kirsten, had been kicked out of the school bus twice for bullying another student.
Because of this, Matt would have to drive Kirsten to school daily.
And instead of ignoring her daughter’s bullying, he used the opportunity to teach Kirsten a valuable lesson.
“Let me make this extremely clear, bullying is unacceptable, especially in my household,” Matt said in the video. “A lot of children today feel that the things their parents do for them are 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,” Matt continued. “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.”
In the Facebook video, the 10-year-old can be seen walking on the side of the road as her dad apparently followed behind in his car.
While many social media users praised Matt for taking action, some accused him of “public shaming,” and expressed their disappointment in the comment section.
Some commenters even said that Matt went too far with the lesson.
However, Matt stood by the punishment and told WTVG that parents need to hold their children accountable.
“That was me showing how I hold my kid accountable,” Matt said. “I’m not going to be another parent that’s just going to brush things under the rug and say kids will be kids.”
At the time of this writing, Matt’s uploaded footage has been viewed 15 million times and has gathered more than 338,000 shares.
Meanwhile, Kirsten said she learned her lesson and has received support from her family.
Matt noted that his daughter’s punishment was divided over the course of her three-day suspension and that the punishment is over.
“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”.