Dad drives twin daughters, 9, to cop shop after they "attack" him

The girls didn't like that their dad was singing in the car, so they pulled his hair and punched his neck. He taught them a don't-distract-the-driver lesson by pulling into the the police station. (Chicago Sun-Times)

Comments

[sometimesilie]

Whatever happened to the good old days of roaring into the Rickels parking lot, storming in to buy duct tape, and taping your child's mouth shut?

God I feel old.

[Elroy]

It was a good story but would have been better if the dad had a warrant out for his arrest.

[Worker]

Something tells me that it was not the children, but the father or mother that needs the lessons -in parenting. If he thought the police could "teach them a lesson," that meant that he believed the children were teachable.

Therefore... why weren't they taught at a much (much) younger age that violence is inappropriate in that situation!

[Bill]

lol at SIL

My friends father used to say "Silence is Golden, Duct Tape is Silver". He did have a roll of it in his truck, and while did recite that ditty fro time to time, he never used it on us.

[arthurtwoshedsjackson]

Well, maybe his singing really sucked. My wife is one of those people who sings when she has no clue what the lyrics are. I'd rather have my hair pulled. I want to tell her to STFU, but I don't want to have to get lawyer afterward.

[sometimesilie]

LOL Bill, I called my mom on it once (checked the glove box when she was in the house) to my ultimate dismay. Wonder if your buddies dad and my mom used to go to school together?

[RockyMtnMac]

I don't see what's wrong with this.
I think it is a good idea for parents to use police officers for back up when you explaining the importance of not attacking a driver. These girls will never make the news for attacking a school bus driver.

[Phranqlin]

If he had to resort to going to the police station to discipline his 9-year old kids, he's already lost the battle. Dad and Mom need to get their butts to a parenting class, prontissimo.

[USMerc]

When I was on the streets, one of the things that used to piss me off more than anything else was when a parent would be having a hard time with their snowflake, and point to me and say, "If you're not good, I'll have the policeman take you to jail."
Nothing like instilling fear into their kids at a young age so they can be anti-authority for the rest of their lives.

[EJ]

I valued my own life too much to pull something like that.

[RockyMtnMac]

True 'dat, Merc! I always told my kids to run like hell if they saw a cop. (KIDDING)
I had a child terrified of cops, so I took him over to a LEO at a public event. I introduced them, and asked the LEO to explain how cops were there to help me protect him. Worked like a charm.
The littlest one, however... I suspect she will do just fine with cops. Especially ordering them around whichever 3rd-world country she eventually ends up as dictator of.

[kestrelmas]

Merc? My mom was one of those parents, when my sister would act up.

Now my sister loves cops. As in, Will speed on purpose just to get pulled over to flirt with them loves cops.

[thomas]

SIL & Bill;
As rambunctious kids of the 50s, car trips often involved the threat of stopping the car, cutting a switch by the side of the road, and suffering the consequences. On occasion the threat became real.
Imagine an LEO driving by at this inopportune moment today.
Who would be on his way to the police station?

[Jenny]

Oh, Worker and Phranqlin. I can tell you are most likely NOT parents. Even the best kids sometimes act up sometimes, and need to learn a lesson the hard way. Don't wanna wear a coat? Freeze your ass off on the playground and miss out on the tag games because you're huddled inside all through recess, fine with me. Tomorrow, I'm sure you'll wear one.

Sorry, though, USMerc. I can totally see how that sucks and it's totally wrong headed approach. I always tell my kid that a siren is a good sound because it means help is on the way to someone.

[American Veteran]

Actually, phrankie~~
Dad needs to get the brats' butts to a parenting strap firmly applied to where it will do the most good just like those vhild psych books which teach you how to raise a little monster.

[pnwgal]

thomas - I was a not-so-rambunctious child of the 70's and that threat was also issued in my parents' car. Or my mother would just reach in the back seat and start swinging if she got tired of listening to "She's touching me!"

I still have hope that soon parents will actually...be parents.

[lynn]

had a dad that like to talk about his duct tape. and as he always followed through on the paddlings, we did not doubt he would use it.

had a mom that would make us break our own switch and woe to the smart pants that brought back the too weak or spindly twig...she would get one that could and would last through all 3 of us getting switched with it.

that being said, dad and the two lil' preciousess need some time with super nanny.

[Phranqlin]

Jenny, hate to break it to you, but I am the parent of two boys. My kids knew very well by the time they were pre-schoolers that there would be serious consequences if they acted up in the car and/or struck me. It's called setting limits and -- here's the tricky part -- enforcing them firmly and consistently. While it didn't particularly faze me if they melted down in the car, I brought the hammer down if they fought with each other, got out of their seatbelts, or interfered in any way with the driver.

Dad made a strategic mistake by not nipping his daughters' bad car behavior in the bud early in their lives. He then compounded this mistake with a tactical error by abdicating his authority to the police. What's he gonna do when Princess 1 and Princess 2 act up in the car again, and the cops aren't there to back him up? He needs to re-establish his parental authority by setting and enforcing consequences for bad behavior. (Fight in the car? Lose TV/computer/whatever privileges. Fight again? Same thing, until they figure it out.)

[American Veteran]

If it doesn't move and it should~~WD40.

If it moves and shouldn't~~duct tape.

[Navy Chief]

If it moves - salute it. If it doesn't - paint it. Old Navy saying.

[RockyMtnMac]

If it moves, tax it.
If it doesn't move, tax it.
Current government saying.

[sometimesilie]

Current???

[sometimesilie]

I think I can find that one engraved in stone somewhere, RMM.

[Yucca]

My Pops used to say he would stop the car and whip our butts but that never happened. It usually ended up with him taking frantic swings at us while trying to keep the car on the road and my mother throwing interferance for us kids by deflection.(plus we always had station wagons and seat belts weren't required, so a quick scramble to the back of the car was another great evasion technique)

Good time, good times.

[Navy Chief]

@Yucca - I remember them! You're not my sister (or would that be brother? It's been so long, I forget which you are!), are you? ;-)

[Yucca]

LOL Navy Chief. I'm not you're sister. Last time I checked the "brother" category would probably be more apt.

[Yucca]

brother, brother!

[LimeGreenLizard]

Laughing at Yucca. Good times is right. Diving for the back of the station wagon. Ah, those were the days. Although, as much as my dad tore me up, I can't remember him once pulling off to the side of the road to do it. He'd usually wait till our next stop. The old "taking the kid to the bathroom at the restaurant and bring him back out more than willing to behave" routine. And then your siblings smirk at you because you got it and they didn't. That time, at least. Remember smirking when you knew you'd get it and it turned out to be your brother/sister? Ah, when justice overlooks you.

[ReginaFilangee]

The best part of the station wagon was the "way back".....I called it first!!!!

[lmninmn]

You are so right Regina...me and my brother used to fight over who got the "way back" all the time!

[fredzilla]

Navy Chief, Tom T. Hall used a variation of that attributed to the Army in his song Salute to a Switchblade. I wondered if it was a real saying or if he made it up for the song.

[Navy Chief]

@Fred - Yeah, I'm pretty sure, though, that it was an Army thing, mostly for the buck Privates. We Navy folks are too smart for that. Although ...

[Navy Chief]

Sitting in the way-back with - GASP! - the back window open! My younger sister lost a pink teddy bear that way once.