I'll Pull This Car Over Right Now!

Maybe you've done this as a parent already, but if not, I think we can all recall to a time when Mom or Dad were driving and we were fighting in the back seat with our brothers and sisters. It would then get to a breaking point when they would yell, "If you two don't stop it right now, I will pull this car over right now and leave you here!" It was only used a few times in our family growing up, but when it was used, it worked.

Looking back I wonder how genuine of a threat that really was. Would my parents really leave me at the curb? I suppose it's possible that it could have happened. Most likely if we weren't far from home we could end up just walking there. I doubt that they'd leave us on the highway... Or would they...?

In any case, here is an article about a woman who left her kids on the side of the road after they wouldn't stop arguing. They were on their way home from school and only a couple miles away in a very nice suburb (they live in a $2 million house), so I don't think the kids were in any danger. Yet the mom was arrested on charges of child endangerment.

I guess I have mixed feelings about the story. On one hand, it doesn't seem to be the best approach to punishing your kids. On the other, it wouldn't hurt them to walk home once to learn their lesson. I'm willing to bet that if this happened 30 or 40 years ago nobody would find anything wrong with it. What do you parents think? Is this what our kids need or is it crossing the line?

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