Instead of being made to stand in the corner as punishment for her bad behavior, 13-year-old Ava Abbott received a punishment fit for the digital age.
After discovering that Ava was talking smack over the social networking site, her mother, Denise Abbott, took to Facebook. As she told NBC, Denise was tired of Ava “mouthing off” on Facebook, so she edited her daughter’s page to reflect that.
The Ohio mom replaced her daughter’s Facebook cover photo with a picture of Ava that places an X squarely over her mouth.
“I do not know how to keep my mouth shut,” Denise wrote onto the image. “I am no longer allowed on Facebook or my phone. Please ask why, my mom says I have to answer everyone that asks.”
Naturally, plenty of Ava’s friends asked why. Denise made Ava send the following email to anyone who asked her:
“I feel like I deserved it because I was mean to my mom and spoke disrespectful to her in front of my friends. Facebook is a big part of my social life, and it’s how me and my friends find out what is going on and making plans and about school work and projects. It made me realize that I didn’t want my picture on there like that because all of my friends were asking me what happened and what I did. I told the people that asked me and my mom why that I spoke to my mom mean when she was doing nice stuff for me and my friends. I know my mom always makes sure I don’t get away with stuff like that and I was sorry. Thank you, Ava.”
Denise may not be as extreme as the father who shot up his Facebook-happy daughter’s laptop, but her story was sensational enough to get picked up by a local NBC affiliate.
Some might find the punishment excessive, but Denise said that changing tactics is necessary in the age of online social networks.
“You have to adapt your parenting skills with the times,” she told NBC.
Photo via NBC
