Dad takes teen son out for dinner after a school fight with a bully — then asks if he made a mistake

A boy, 14, punched a friend in school and refused to apologize. Consequently, he was suspended for three days, and his parents were also informed about his misconduct. But here's the real twist — his guardian (u/additional-world8707), instead of punishing him, took him out for dinner to "celebrate," and their reason is surprisingly praiseworthy. The story was posted on Reddit on January 21.

When his guardian got to know about his suspension, they were upset because they didn't want their son to grow up glorifying violence. But before they could punish or talk to their son about it, the teenager explained why he proceeded as far as hitting his classmate, and that totally changed the parent's perspective about the situation. There was this particular girl in his class who was an easy target for the bullies. She was an introvert and wore older clothes. "Apparently, a group of guys has been messing with her for months. Knocking her stuff off her desk, making comments about her clothes, just being cruel for no reason," the parent wrote. The teenager remained a silent spectator for days until he decided to step in. One of the bullies walked up to the girl and poured his drink all over her tray while she was eating. She was so embarrassed that she couldn't stop crying.

"My son walked over and told the kid to apologize. The kid laughed at him. So my son punched him," they explained. Although the teenager stood for the right, he'd violated the "zero-tolerance" policy and was suspended for three days. His guardian didn't argue with the school and decided to confront their son about it. "I told my son he knows he's not supposed to hit people and that there are consequences for that, even when someone deserves it. But then I took him out for dinner that night," they recalled. They went to the boy's favorite restaurant, where the parent explained to him that he stood up for the right thing, but his approach was completely wrong. They also discussed other ways the teen could have handled the situation, rather than violence. When the parent's ex found out about it, she called them out for rewarding their son for being violent. But they stood their ground and justified the approach. "I already talked to him about not using his fists, and he understands the suspension was fair. But I wasn't going to let him feel like he did something shameful when he was the only one who stood up for a girl everyone else ignored," they said.

Strict parental discipline has been linked to excessive negative outcomes in kids; researchers Marthe Wiggers and Fred Paas also made some similar observations in their study. They found that physical punishment leads to behavioral problems in kids. In fact, such children are more likely to be aggressive, break rules, and act in questionable ways. "Physical discipline is harmful, ineffective across age groups and cultural contexts, and an unnecessary means to correcting unwanted behavior," the analysis noted. Not only mentally, but kids exposed to harsh punishments also show negative physical outcomes. Globally, around 1.2 billion kids aged 0-18 years are exposed to corporal punishment at home every year, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Apart from injuries, physical punishments trigger stress hormones and lead to changes in brain structure. In fact, it was seen that kids subjected to corporal punishment are, on average, 24% are less likely to develop naturally compared to other kids their age.

Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/fairyfartdaydreams commented, "NTA. You taught your son that he did the wrong thing for the right reasons and gave him alternatives. The world is full of gray, not just black and white." u/lopsided_turnover_32 shared, "You didn't tell him punching was okay; you told him standing up for someone who needed help was the right thing to do even if how he did it got him in trouble. That's not rewarding violence; that's teaching him that doing the right thing sometimes comes with a cost, and that's okay." Similarly, u/annual_version_6250 said, "NTA. You didn't reward him for punching someone. For that, he got suspended and given a talking-to. You rewarded him for standing up to bullies; for protecting a young girl who couldn't protect herself. You rewarded him for being a good human."

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