Dad makes son run to school in the rain as punishment for bullying another kid on bus, sparks debate

The biggest priority for parents is to ensure that their children turn out to be good people. In order for this to happen, it is important that parents take steps that are necessary for their children and teach them valuable lessons in the ways best possible for them. Bryan Thornhill did exactly that and opted for a strict punishment for his son when he got to know that his kid was bullying his fellow classmates. His son was bothering a young boy on his school bus, and because of this, he was suspended from traveling by bus for three days. Learning about this, Thornhill was disappointed and decided to teach his son a lesson by coming up with a unique punishment, as per Inside Edition. 

The punishment was recorded on video by Thornbill and it features his son running to the school in the rain. Thornbill was also following his son in his car, as the kid was running through the street. He wanted to ensure that his son completed the punishment. The distance between their home and school is 1 mile. The son had to run the entire distance without having any chance of taking a break because his father was right behind him. As the now-viral video started, Thornhill introduced him and his two children, then he went straight to the matter, "My son has finally got in trouble on the bus enough to where he was kicked off the bus for three days because he was being a little bully which I do not tolerate, can't stand."

Thornhill added a dash of humour to the clip by commenting on his son's pace, finding it impressive and refusing to stop his punishment even during the rain. He says about his son, "He's gonna be a very fast runner later on because we've always joked he'll either be fast or obedient. So far we're working on fast." This punishment aims to teach empathy to the boy, that putting someone into an uncomfortable situation is not nice and can result in negative consequences. Thornhill hopes that the punishment will teach the boy to be more considerate of others.

Supporters of gentle parenting might find this method a little tough in approach, but as per Thornhill, it worked as he intended to with his son, showing significant improvements. He says in the clip, "This right here is just old school simple parenting this ain't killing nobody this is a healthy way for a child to be punished too because it's, you know, exercise." Addressing the criticism he received from a section of Internet users for being "bullying" his own son (their words), the dad told Inside Edition: "It was actually a light punishment for what he should have gotten. If them calling me a bully is what I consider parenting, then I guess I'm a bully...But standing up for my kids, and more importantly, standing up for other kids that might be the recipient of his bullying... I'm going to stand up for everybody."

The action undertaken by Bryan Thornhill received a lot of support from people who find old-school parenting appealing. It went viral over five years ago, garnering the father-son many interviews. In his conversation with De Phil, the father shared, "Ever since the video, we have seen a huge change in bullying. I don't feel the video was an abusive video or an abusive punishment. My son's an athlete year-round and runs constantly. That distance is no big deal for him." The original video uploaded in 2018 by Thornbill on Facebook, which garnered 31 million views in a matter of days, has since been deleted.