"after your comment about your mom, your mom told me to make sure I put one there for her". For some reasons, that bugs me.

I'm in no position to teach anybody about parenting (I only have a 3 year old daughter), but I would imagine that dealing with a teenager, you have to keep a balance between being diplomat and firm. Easier said than done, of course.

+1 post of the week

Yeah i thought that was hilarious!!!! Good parenting no, hilarious yes. You can easily split this video in 2 parts. The chair part is actually good. He is clearly angry and frustrated but somehow keeps it together. Then he gets up and goes overboard.

I'm curious, are you a parent yourself?

I ask as it takes two to learn. The parent and the child. You could be the best parent in the world, but if your child is unwilling or incapable of learning the lessons you try to impart, there really is very little you can do about it.

I suppose bad parenting is better than no parenting at all, but I think he doesn't try hard enough.

He parents in a way that is satisfying for him, but that isn't in his child's best interest.

No I am not. I don't think I should be a parent to comment on a parenting issue.
And the very little you can do should not be executing a laptop on interwebz to get even with your kid. take the laptop away, take the interwebz away, ground her or better yet; do talk to her. Time and again if there need be; if you are giving up on your kid; I am sorry but you ain't cut to be a parent.

I can tell you from an aussie's perspective he definitely has a american accent ;) - we have much tougher rules against using carrying/using firearms in public :P

Sorry, I know you said that the gun thing was wrong, but I did come up with a solution I don't think he DID try.

Take the laptop away, especially at a point that it's 'broke' or needs updating. Tell her she's only getting it back after, say, a month straight of her chores getting done. No internet unless it's required for school, and only then allowed under strict supervision, totally separate user account on a different computer. At the end of the month, then inform her that if she stops doing her chores, the next time the laptop breaks it will remain broken until she gets a job and pays for the repairs herself.

The major thing though, is this sounds like a lack of communications somewhere. Either he's going at it with a bad attitude, or she is. And frankly, both of them need a good kick to the head and ass. You gain more with honey then with vinegar, it's just the way that everything is presented when you do it.

Simply put, it's not as cut and dry as you think it is. When you have your own children, you may very well understand.

Great dad.:)
Wonder how i'd turn up to be if my folks had a gun, and shot my C64 back 20 years ago.

I totally agree with that.

In our household, you make a mess of something and don't clean up, no one else is going to do it for you.

When she leaves home she is going to have to clean up after herself isn't she?

Been hearing that shit million times now.
I don't need to be a director to talk about a movie.
I don't need to make a game to talk about a game.
And I sure as hell don't have to be a parent to talk about parenting. I know it's a whole big sentimental and mysterious and tiring and rewarding experience but I know enough about human relationships to be able to talk about it. I know that from the parents all I am gonna get is "have a child first" but it's not the way it is.
I have seen kids. I have seen parents. I have been a kid for a while myself and since started teaching I have often worked wih 16-17 year olds. I have formed an opinion on parenting based on these observations and knowledge, some of it obtained outside of a parent-child relation. And I say shooting a laptop in your back yard to get even with your kid is unexceptable no matter how you look at it.

See, I consider myself fairly progressive, but I have a big problem with this. Kids don't get privacy (beyond performing basic grooming). They don't get a locking door or expectation that I will not find out what they're up to. So long as I'm legally and ethically responsible for them I reserve the right to snoop, spy, and do whatever else I must to find out what they're up to. Because no matter what kids think, or whoever else for that matter, kids sometimes get into shit that will seriously and forever fuck them up and I refuse to be one of those parents on the news, "But everything seemed just fine... *sob*". No, fuck that, kids don't get privacy from their parents, imo, and that video is a the perfect illustration of why.

No one said you can't comment, we're just saying that idealism often gets trumped by reality during parenting. What, did you think none of us were idealists too before we had kids? It's just like being a teenager, you know how everything fucking works, better than anyone else, until life hits you with the cluebat in your early twenties and you realize you don't.

Again, you're welcome to your opinion, but there's a reason parents can spot a non-parent. Enjoy your idealism while it lasts, in fact, may it never end.

that's why I never want (can have) kids... people are just crazy, whether they're young or old. I can't understand how the humankind still carries on!