It isn’t the seven-kilometre walk, or even the cardboard sign that read, in all capital letters: “Being bad and rude to our bus driver! Moms makin us walk.”
For the local Children’s Aid Society, the issue is a Harrow, Ont., mom’s decision to post photos of her punishing her two elementary-aged sons to social media.
“That drew the line for me! This morning we did a 7 km walk to show them what everyday will be like for them when they get kicked off the bus!” she wrote.
“2 hours later they made it!” To protect the identities of the children, CBC News is not naming the mother.
The post had been shared more than 38,000 times by 5:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. It received more than 28,000 “likes” and other reactions and dozens of comments, most of which seem to celebrate the actions of a “real parent.”
The mother posted photos of the boys walking on Tuesday. The post has since gone viral with 30,000 shares and more than 24,000 reactions. (Facebook)
“You re fricken rockin the mom hat girl good job,” wrote one commenter.
“Awesom job mom!!” added another. “This is how you raise children.”
The mother told CBC the older boy learned his lesson quickly, but said her younger son needed to walk a second day. She did not post that punishment to social media.
Tina Gatt, manager of community outreach for the Windsor-Essex CAS office, would neither confirm that call nor address whether the incident merits an investigation.
Gatt did say having kids walk to school to show them the “logical consequence” of misbehaving on the bus can be a reasonable punishment — as long as there are no safety threats, and there appear to have been no threats in this case.
The mother accompanied the boys on the walk and, in the photos, are seen alongside what looks like a quiet, rural road. Harrow is a community of less than 3,000 people, about 30 kilometres southeast of Windsor.