Bye-Bye, Stupidity

A 12-year-old girl took a picture of herself holding an unopened bottle of vodka and posted it online.  Her mother had warned her about losing her privileges if she abused social media.  The mother was surprised to see the photo, and shortly replaced it.

“I thought she knew better, but in her mind, she thought, ‘I’m not drinking, what’s the problem?’” Billingsley said. What the girl didn’t realize, she said, was that the photo might still send the wrong message to a future employer or prove attractive to a predator, who “can see it and think this is a little girl who likes to drink.”

“Because she had been warned,” she added, “I felt I needed to hit her where it hurt most.”
And hurt it did. After she explained the punishment to her daughter, the girl was “devastated” for a day, Billingsley said.

But by day two, Billingsley said, her daughter had brushed off the incident. “If she is ever allowed back on social media, she’ll definitely think twice about anything she posts,” she said.

Devastated for a day is about right.  This wasn't public humiliation, nothing was done to this child.  It may have been unusual, but it's miles from abusive.  Her mother was confident that her daughter could handle the punishment and it turns out she could.  I think the suggestion that it could harm her daughter through college age is ridiculous, but I doubt everyone will agree with that.

One thing we can all agree on, that little girl will never forget this, and one can hope the lesson sticks as well.