Mom Forces Teen to Sleep on Tile Floor for a Month – CafeMom

Reddit

“Tough love is all I know how to give!” the post begins, before the mom continues to sound off on how she’s “reached her limit” with her teen.

“Several talks … plenty of chances, and [yet she] still chooses to act a fool at school and at home,” the mom wrote.

As for how exactly the teen was “acting a fool,” her mom doesn’t get into too many details, other than to say she needs to learn how to “watch her mouth and respect her elders.”

Whether or not the behavior was extreme isn’t clear, but what is clear is that this mom has HAD IT. Her particular method of discipline is raising some major eyebrows, though.
That’s right — she’s forcing her daughter to sleep on the floor to learn her lesson. And what’s worse, by the looks of the photo she posted along with her rant, the teen’s bedroom isn’t even carpeted, meaning she’ll be spending her nights on cold, hard tile.

But that’s not all.
Three pairs of pants, tops, and undergarments. One hoodie, one jacket, and two pairs of shoes.

That is all the teen will be allowed to have for the next month. And to really make her appreciate the convenience of that washer/dryer Mom and Dad have, she’ll be forced to wash them all — by hand.
“NO SOCIAL MEDIA. NO FRIENDS. NOTHING!” the mom wrote, before adding that “teenagers nowadays think that us parents NEED to give them all that extra stuff,” when in reality, they don’t.

“All we need to do is provide the basic needs, a roof over their head, and food,” she concluded.

The good people of Reddit, however, begged to differ.
Reddit

“I’m all for discipline and ‘tough love’ can be appropriate in some circumstances depending on your definition,” wrote one user, “but my kids will never be made to question our love for them.”

“‘I don’t care about my child’s needs for love,'” wrote another user, mocking the mother’s line of thinking. “‘I’m just going to do what’s easiest for me and dole out affection whenever I feel like it.'”
Reddit

One user wrote that reading the post gave him “sudden flashbacks” to his mom’s anger.

“She always sounds angry when she talks to me even if I’m telling her about something happy or that I’m proud of,” the user explained, adding that it’s “just another way she was abusive” and “probably ties in to how now-a-days I always feel like people are upset with me.”
Reddit

“The irony is that this kid is probably acting out because she isn’t getting the attention she needs at home,” wrote one user. “Then she’s punished for it.”

“IMO most cases of tough love is just an egotistical parent not receiving the (usually unreasonable) standard of love and respect that they think they deserve from their child and then punishing the kid for it,” wrote another. “Half the time the poor kid doesn’t even know why Mum/Dad is angry at them.”
Reddit

“What bothers me most about all this is how excessive it is,” wrote one Redditor. “If the kid had to endure one of these things at a time, then that would be reasonable, but all of it at once? That’s why it seems abusive to me.”
Reddit

“People don’t realize emotional/mental abuse is still abuse,” wrote one user, while another wrote, “Emotional abuse is so insidious, it breaks down every part of your psyche.”

Experts agree.

“Emotional abuse can be so deceptive, that most of the time, people who are victims have no idea they are being abused,” wrote clinical psychologist Shari Stines in an article for PsychCentral.

What’s more, it can have ripple effects across a person’s life for decades. According to Healthline, the long-term effects of psychological abuse can include chronic anxiety, social withdrawal, and even insomnia.
But either way, experts urge that parents try to discipline with empathy as much as possible when doling out punishments. Abusive patterns — whether physical, emotional, or both — are often passed down through the generations, meaning the cycle has to stop.

“In the end,” Kathy Caprino wrote in an article for Forbes, “empathic parenting benefits and empowers not only your children, but your growth and development as an adult, and paves the way for healthier and happier future generations as well.”