Child Takes Father To Court Over Grounding

[Thorin]

No, but seriously, a twelve year old girl took her father (who had sole custody of her) to court after he grounded her for breaking his rules regarding Internet usage.

AND SHE WON!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/04/07/mtl-quebecgirl-sues-dad-0407.html?ref=rss

In this case, he actually refused to let her go on her grade 6 graduation trip, and that's what she sued about.

And guess what?  Since daddy wouldn't let her get away with whatever she wanted, she moved in with mommy.  Seriously, this is @%&#ed up.  The courts are now deciding whether a parent can discipline their child by grounding or withholding privileges?  Clearly this child needs to learn some respect for elders, rather than just getting her way.  But no, a judge steps in to decide that not letting her go on a grade 6 grad trip is too hefty of a punishment for breaking the father's rules, and states that she gets to go anyway.

Cuz, you know, father doesn't know best about what his own child needs.

[Darren Dirt]

At the tender age of 12, a court allows most children to decide which parent with which to make their permanent residence, AFAIK. But I don't see how that leads to this child being allowed to do what she did! A judge that acts as this one did, to "make" a parent do something the child wants done, well that's a World Class Ass Hat, simply put.

"Either way, he doesn't have authority over this child anymore. She sued him because she doesn't respect his rules," Beaudoin said. "It's very hard to raise a child who is the boss."

Yeah, World Class Ass Hat. The father should sue THE JUDGE imo.

[Mr. Analog]

WE'RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND WE'RE HERE TO HELP

[Darren Dirt]

WE'RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND WE'RE HERE TO HELP

Dear Government,

please stop helping.


Sincerely,

every rational free-thinking man woman and child.

[Mr. Analog]

WE'RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND WE'RE HERE TO HELP

Dear Government,

please stop helping.


Sincerely,

every rational free-thinking man woman and child.

Just ask yourself: What would Ted Nugent do?

The answer: shoot stuff with a shotgun guitar!

[Thorin]

Naomi Lakritz of the Calgary Herald says exactly what I'm thinking in her article titled "Let Parents be Parents": http://www.canada.com/Life/parents+parents/1494954/story.html.

This is not, after all, a case of abuse. No law was broken. It is not abusive to teach your child that bad behaviour has consequences. It's good parenting -- and there isn't enough of it happening these days.

[..]

Lucie Fortin, a legal aid lawyer who represented the girl and therefore should be held completely responsible for destroying the parent-child relationship between father and daughter, said: "The child asked the court to intervene because (the trip) was very important to her."

[..]

One can thank the litigious Lucie Fortin for helping to create that destructive situation, which was then compounded by the judges who ruled against the father.

For those who wonder how this girl qualified for Legal Aid in the first place, it's all set out by Quebec's Commission des services juridiques, whose website states that "the criteria for civil suits and other suits are: the potential threat, for the applicant or his family, to physical or psychological safety, to means of subsistence or to basic needs and a serious threat to either's freedom."

You can see where being grounded for brattiness constituted a threat to the girl's psychological safety -- her sense of entitlement was in major jeopardy there. More specifically, missing the Grade 6 trip posed a serious threat to her freedom. She can't do what she wants and go where she pleases at age 12? This must be remedied right away.

Of course, one has to understand sarcasm to understand that last paragraph in the quote...