Gen X dad’s odd punishment for four-year-old son sparks debate
A self-proclaimed Gen X dad has sparked a furious debate after a video clip of him punishing his four-year-old son went viral on TikTok.
Wisconsin-based dad Derek Longstreth said he had no other choice but to make his young son, Truman, heave massive jugs of water across the yard because he hit his mum.
“All right little man, let's go, you've got all these jugs to carry,” he told his son, as he showed five water jugs.
“He hit his mom today, so, spanking is out of the question because you liberals made it so we can’t spank our children any more,” he explained.
The father-of-one recorded his son struggling to carry the water jugs, but offered him words of encouragement as the boy tried to carry it across the yard.
“Let's go, young man. I love you just so you know, but you're not going to hit your mom,” he said. “You can do it. I love you son but we don't hit women in this family.”
Longstreth then explained why he chose to punish his son this way, and said that spanking your child is not allowed in Wisconsin.
“He's four. We're not allowed to spank in the state of Wisconsin because some liberals are saying there are better ways.”
“'Well liberals, what's the better way?”
After the father complained about the liberals, he continued to try and teach Truman a lesson, despite the child complaining that he “can’t do it” multiple times throughout the video.
At the end of the clip, Longstreth asks his son: “Are you going to hit your mom again?”
“No,” the four-year-old responded.
Longstreth also made his son apologise for hitting his mum.
The nine-minute clip has racked up over 1.9 million views, while many applauded the father for his “gentle” ways of parenting and disciplining his son, others slammed him for “abuse”.
“Big respect to this dad. He gave the kid a hard job with encouragement and reassurance that he loves him as well as why the kid had to do it,” wrote one person.
“This is honestly probably the best and most effective way to discipline your child. Every moment they do this they are thinking about what they did,” commented another.
“Good dad, raising his son right, teaching him to never lay his hands on any women especially his momma. Very good,” agreed a third.
“This is like so gentle yet so disciplining in all the good ways,” wrote a fourth.
However, other viewers disagreed with the father’s method.
“This is abuse.... I said what I said. I'm sorry he hit his mom though, talking it out is fine. He's too little for this,” commented one person.
“Lol. When people ask what the next traumas will be, it’ll be every moment being a phone in their face. Did you need to post this? Pathetic,” wrote another.
“You don't want him to associate work as punishment. how about no tv, no sweets, something that is usually a privilege. work is something that is good,” added another user.
Images: TikTok