Early in the week, the internet broke after an Ohio dad posted a now-viral video to Facebook of his 10-year-old daughter walking to school as punishment for bullying.
The Swenton, Ohio, dad — Matt Cox is a father who is not afraid to teach his kiddos a lesson the old school way. And after Kirsten, Cox’s daughter was suspended a second time from riding the bus due to her bullying another child — Cox decided to make her walk to school for five miles to help her reflect on her actions.
“This lovely lady is my 10-year-old daughter, who has for the second time this school year been kicked off of the school bus due to bullying another student,” Cox says in the video as he accompanies his daughter walking from in the car. “Friday when my daughter brought home her paperwork for her bus suspension, she said, ‘Daddy you’re gonna have to take me to school next week.’ As you see this morning, she is learning otherwise.”
The video has been shared over 3K times and is littered with over 75K comments. And as you can imagine, Kirsten walking her five-mile punishment in 36-degree weather has caused parents to share their opinions.
“You did the right thing, Dad, if the other parent were to take this step and let their child know bullying is wrong it would not be out of [controlled] as it is now. And children are [dying] because of this. [I] was a victim to bullying and in the end, [I] ended up being depressed, thank God [I] am okay now so thank you dad you are a great parent.” said one user.
While another commented, “1st time – talk to child about her actions. But – 2nd time – this is exactly what a child needs because apparently, she didn’t learn her lesson after the first time. I applaud you Dad! We need more parents out there just like you.”
But not everyone was on board with the punishment.
“It’s a good concept because children need consequences. But I’m not a fan a shaming your children on social media.” said one user.
While another asked, “May be it’s more important to ask yourself, why is my child a bully?”
As well as “Walk of shame, lol. Although, this punishment addresses the privilege of the bus, it doesn’t address the reason for bullying. Hope there was a talk about why she did it in the first place.”
Cox expressed that not everyone would be for his style of lesson-learning “but that is alright because I am doing what I feel is right to teach my daughter a lesson and to stop her from bullying.”
Cox shared with WTVG how the five-mile walk was actually broken up throughout Kirsten’s three-day bus suspension. Cox also expressed how he hopes his discipline with Kirsten will make both parents and children to take bullying more seriously.
“I just want the kids to know that words truly do hurt; they cut very deep and have lasting effects,” Cox shared. “And I hope that parents hold their kids accountable.”
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