As Punishment For Bullying, This Dad Makes His Daughter Walk 10 Miles To School

Dec 13, 2018 by apost team

A father has gone viral for making his 10-year-old daughter walk five miles to school as punishment for bullying another student.

Matt Cox decided on the unusual punishment after learning of his daughter's second bullying offense. The first time, he grounded her and took away her TV privileges. The second time, he made her walk to school while he slowly drove behind her and filmed it. 

"This lovely lady is my 10-year-old daughter," he narrated, "who has, for the second time this year, been kicked off the school bus due to bullying another student."

Since his daughter had been temporarily suspended from using the school's bus service, Matt decided to make her walk the distance to school. He broke up the five miles over the three days of her suspension. He posted the video to Facebook with the title "Life Lessons."

However, he never expected it to hit major media outlets and become a viral sensation. Within just a few days of his upload, the video had exceeded 15 million views and 60,000 comments.

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Some parents applauded his decision.

 "Good measure!"

said one commenter.

"My son was bullied too. Too many parents cop out and blame their school for not bringing up their children right."

"Wish more parents took the time to hold their children accountable for unacceptable behavior," said another. 

Some parents expressed disapproval, especially when they learned that the girl was walking to school in 36°F weather. They also wondered if her father was being a hypocrite by engaging in bully-like behavior to teach her a lesson about bullying.

"This isn't about his daughter,"

said one commenter.

"It's about getting people to say how good a parent he is. Poor girl." 

Another user added, "If public shaming is your idea of punishment, no wonder she's acting out."

Despite the controversy, Matt says that he doesn't regret his decision. He says that bullying is completely unacceptable in his house, and he'll do whatever it takes to curb those tendencies in his daughter.

"I absolutely do not feel I went overboard at all,"

he told reporters, adding,

"Just because we love our children and would do anything for them does not mean we have to turn a blind eye to their actions."

What do you think? Did the punishment fit the crime, or did dad cross a line? What would you have done in this situation? We want to know - and pass this on to other parents to get the conversation going.