Help Your Child Study Or Go to Jail
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Fresh off of receiving our own copy of this letter from our local school system, I could not help but notice this headline at USAToday.com:
Ohio dad jailed after daughter fails to get GED
Fortunately, both of our kids are doing quite well in school and I do not anticipate ever being put in a situation like this – although there are no guarantees.
Apparently a judge ordered Brian Gegner to be sure his 18-year-old daughter received her GED, as she has had a history of truancy. When she failed to obtain her GED, her father was sentenced to 180 days in jail for contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor.
What?!?! 180 days!
In a day and age when many celebrities are living above the law, this man gets sentenced to 6 months in jail because his daughter cannot be responsible.
According to the story, the mother mentioned that they would take their daughter to school but she would skip out the other door.
Is that really the parents fault?
Unless one of the parents was able to babysit at the school, how are they supposed to prevent their daughter from cutting school? Shouldn’t the school have some responsibility in ensuring that the students cannot easily cut school?
With a motion filed to reconsider the sentencing, one would hope that someone in the judicial system comes to their senses and reverses this sentence.
What do you think about this dad being put in jail?
Should the parent be held accountable for their child’s actions?
Even when the “child” is 18-years-old?
At some point you need to hold the child accountable for their own actions, particularly when that child has reached the age of majority. Personally, I believe the message would have been much better served to hold the daughter accountable in this case as opposed to sending the dad to jail.
In this example, what lesson has the child really learned?
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That seems a little harsh on the dad. There must be more to the story.
RubiaLalas last blog post..WHY Won’t My Kid Eat?
… Wait, what?
Now that just didn’t make any sense. And our jails are full as is. Stop putting people with stupid crimes (if that’s even a crime) into those jail cells.
Kelvin Kaos last blog post..New Camera, New Script
I think, from as young as possible, a child should be taught to think in terms of responsibility and accountability. This applies to both doing good, as well as doing bad things.
At 3 yrs old, I am already (trying to) teach my daughter that she has to complete her preschool homework, or face the consequences. I am also making her realise the consequences of her decisions, by citing to her her options and corresponding effects, and letting her decide upon these. So far it hasn’t worked very well because she is still thinking very short term, but that’s not my point here now
At 18, the dad shouldn’t still be held accountable. Rubialala is right- there is likely more to this story..
I’m all for holding parents accountable for doing their job, but the punishment should fit the crime. I’m not even sure there is a crime here. I see irresponsible parenting all the time, but I don’t like it when the government gets their hands too deep into things. This seems like overstepping boundaries to me.
Jeremy (Discovering Dad)s last blog post..Discovering Dad Diet Plan – Post-Mother’s Day Bloating
Man, my parents would have had the Prison Geedunk renamed in their honor, they’d have spent so much time in the poke.
When I was a kid, I went to a school on a military base. I remember an unruly calssmate repeatedly getting into trouble, and as a result, his parents lost their on-base housing. On an unrelated not, I remember that he had a hot sister.
billandjill.coms last blog post..Can you hear me now?