When my son's report card indicated he'd been fooling around too much and needed to pay more attention in class, I told him he'd have to work on this or face consequences. I was thinking no TV or playdates, something along those lines.

A Georgia mom who didn't like her 12 year old son's grades forced him to kill his beloved pet hamster with a hammer.

Wow, what can you say, except maybe, DFCS?

That's exactly what happened to this nutjob 38-year-old mother who thought murdering an innocent pet was the best way to teach her son a lesson.

According to the Washington Post Online, the boy was upset and told his teacher, who reported it to the Division of Family and Child Services, who contacted police.

Lynn Middlebrooks Geter of Warm Springs faces one charge each of animal cruelty, child cruelty and battery.

Okay, so this story is crazy extreme beyond belief, but taking it down a notch, what's the worst punishment you've ever handed out for bad grades?

Written by Cynthia Dermody for Big Kid Buzz in CafeMom Parenting
wtf???

There is a man in PA who yesterday I believe poured rubbing alcohol over the families puppy in front of the kids and set it on fire because it nipped at him.

Cancelled my son's 15th birthday---only to find out 2 years later that he has ADD---talk about feeling guilt. I can't imagine hurting a pet to punish a child. SICK!!!!

I took more beatings than I can count for getting bad grades.

Delilady: I also found out, MUCH later in life, that I had A.D.D. during my school years.

Unfortunately ( well, actually I consider it fortunate because I wouldn't have wanted to be given drugs to make me " more normal " ) when I was in school, A.D.D. wasn't a " known " thing so they never picked up on it. They kept putting " needs to apply himself " on my report cards.

My family took that to mean I was just screwing around and decided that the best way to make me " apply myself " was to beat it into me.

That's murder and she should go to jail for forcing him to do that.

That is just nuts!! I would say she needs punishment for making him do something like that!! As for me, if I got anything worse than a c, I was sent to my room, no dinner, tv, or phone!!

I'm sorry you went through that. Teachers said the same thing about my son. It was my older son who came home from college and was tutoring him that told me to have him tested. We did and he started on meds a year ago and is now trying to get into college. Although I never hit him, I did nag the daylights out of the kid. If only the trained professionals at his school would have said something, they could have saved all of us a lot of aggravation. One teacher actually called my son "reliner" as in Lazy Boy

Well..nagging is understandable.

The thing is, if he is anything like I was, he knew that something wasn't quite " right " but just didn't know how to communicate it to you.

I knew that I just couldn't manage to make myself focus, but I couldn't find a way to let my family know that. I could never find the right words that would let them know what was happening.

Then again, I may have used the right words, but they just didn't hear them.

I actually had to learn to " control " it on my own.

OMG. That makes me sick. I have used the occasional spanking with my children when they are under 5. After that taking away privileges pretty much works. My step-son was a whole other story, but he has ADHD and a host of other issues and his dad was the one in charge of his discipline. But, the worst it ever was included taking away everything....computer, phone, desserts, money, "cool" clothes, etc.

I try to talk to my kids when they are acting up to find out what the problem is. And, if I discover they are just acting like spoiled brats and there's no underlying issue, I just tell them to knock that crap off. I'm told I have a "look" that I give that speaks volumes.

Well I know from my so's experience that it had to have been really hard for you to learn to control it yourself.

He had given up. He didn't care about his grades and would tell me he was "just stupid". He had no self esteem when it came to school. What made it harder is that his best friend is #2 in their class. I knew he was intelligent because when it came to football he would write plays and give them to his coach who would then use those plays. Once he went on medication he won the award for most improved GPA in his class. He is now a B/C student. I just wish that we had discovered it before I made his life miserable for so long.

I shouldn't have eaten before reading this. That's frigging nauseating and obscene. Wonders cannot describe...

I wasn't allowed to take a book to school if my grades went down. Or go out with friends. But my parents were in good with the teachers, so there was rarely any surprises at 6 weeks. They knew before the week was out and I was in trouble!