Does This Man Deserve to Be Father of the Year?
Posted by Amber Robinson at 3:36 PM on December 9, 2008
A Northern Territory man has hit the headlines this past week for making his five-year-old son walk two-and-a-half hours to school every day, after he was kicked off the school bus.
When little Jack Burt confessed that he’d been banned for five days for hitting the bus driver in the head with an apple core, dad Sam thought he should learn the hard way. He and Jack last week were getting up at 5.10am for the dusty 13km-hike from the Darwin rural area of Herbert, all the way to the town of Humpty Doo.
Riding to school wasn’t an option either, as Mr Burt also took the wheels off Jack’s bike so he couldn’t be tempted to ride to school.
At the end of the week’s punishment, Mr Burt, 38, took out a public notice in the local newspaper thanking locals that offered them a lift.
But even though it didn’t work, with Jack in trouble the first day back on the bus, his father is being speculated about as a possible recipient for the Australian Father of the Year award due to his “tough love” style of punishment.
So do you think the punishment fits the crime? I have been talking about the issue with friends. One said, “How about teaching the kid some respect and good behaviour so that he doesn’t throw apples at bus drivers, instead of giving extreme one-off punishments to compensate?”
The other thing we agreed on is that 13km is a long walk for a child this young, especially if they are not used to it. He must have been exhausted for the afternoon’s lessons.
At least the dad was trying to do something to address his child’s poor behaviour, I guess. What do you think? How would you have disciplined your child in this situation?
Finally, a father who tries to teach his child what is unacceptable behaviour. If you are disrespectful to the bus driver, then losing the right to catch the bus is a consequence of the action.
Its good to see that the father walked with the child (showing responsibility).
I probably would have made the child ride his bike for 1 week. and then if he does it again, then he has to ride his bike for another week – until he gets sick of the novelty of riding his bike to school.