Tech Savvy Mom Disciplines Son

Marginally family law, but Any more back talk, young man, and those pictures of you playing dress up go straight to Flickr from the Good Morning Silicon Valley is just too good to pass up (and with apologies to GMSV, I hijacked the whole post minus the links contained therein):

"These kids today. What’s a mother to do when they misbehave? Spank ‘em and you risk a visit by the social worker. Lock them in a cold, dark fruit cellar for a few weeks and … well, you can’t do that either. But, somehow, the punishment needs to fit the crime. So when Beth, a single mom from Richmond, Va., told her 13-year-old boy to stop playing on his Xbox and do his chores, and the youngster’s ill-advised response was to break the vacuum cleaner, she decided to hit him where it hurts (and her resolve only hardened after she found porn site cookies on his computer). According to Gizmodo, Beth first put the boy’s Xbox up for sale on eBay. Then she password-protected his computer so he couldn’t get online. And finally, in the unkindest cut of all, she posted a Snoopy cartoon on his MySpace page, making him look decidedly uncool. “Apparently I’m the meanest mom in the world, were his words,” she told Gizmodo. “I’m a single mom. I can’t let them walk over me or I might never get up.” Cruel? A bit. Unusual? For now. Effective in reducing recidivism? Time will tell."

Underlying the good story are some themes we do see in our family law cases: the problems being a single parent, the problems parents have with choosing an appropriate discipline for their children.