# Good parenting or psychopathic parenting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406 "2012-04-10T21:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/21 "2012-04-11T00:06:19Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > With the caveat that I’m a non-parent, I think it’s great, and here’s why: it introduces her to the concept that not only do her actions have consequences, sometimes those consequences don’t hurt her, they hurt somebody else. Without actually hurting anybody else, because it was a stuffed animal. Absolutely agree! And when I read this post, I immediately thought of my 2 y/o. Can’t wait to try this, because I think he’s the type that this would work on. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/22 "2012-04-11T00:47:13Z")
Wow. That is brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/23 "2012-04-11T00:48:46Z")
You are clearly a psychopath and your daughter will need a lifetime of therapy as a result of this abusive mind game. For your information, psychological abuse is just as damaging as physical abuse so you may as well be beating her. Someone should report you to CPS so they can remove your children and place them in foster care immediately. Although, I doubt she will EVER recover from the cruel psychological damage you have already inflicted. And the ASPCA should also be notified so you can NEVER again be allowed to have a stuffed animal as you seem to get off on abusing them. Ok, seriously, there was just way too much agreement in this thread, so I had to mix it up a little. I used this very tactic on my kids when they were younger and it worked like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/24 "2012-04-11T01:22:10Z")
Now I just picture a whole bunch of parents peeking out at the corner of their eyes towards the stuffed animals, just waiting… “One false move or mistake, and the Teddy Bear gets it!” And if you punish them both, you’re introducing her to the Prisoner’s Dilemma early in life! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/25 "2012-04-11T02:41:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > But even there, you’ve got to get creative sometimes. At one point, I discovered that the natural consequence of making a mess - needing to clean it up - was what my daughter \*wanted \*to do. So she’d dump a box of cereal and YAY! now she gets to use the broom! I finally resorted to making her stand 4 feet away to watch me clean up the mess, and she couldn’t lift a finger to help me. Oh, the agony! You’d have thought it involved electrodes, to hear her whimper. But it stopped the purposeful mess-making! When my daughter (13 months) throws food on the floor, the “consequence” is having to stay in her high chair while I clean it up. Some day she’ll be old enough to understand the connection. In the mean time, it makes me feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/26 "2012-04-11T02:50:40Z")
I think it’s HILARIOUS. And awesome. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/27 "2012-04-11T03:27:31Z")
As a child-free only child, I’ve always wondered what a parent did if the child wouldn’t stay in time-out. Great idea! ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/28 "2012-04-11T03:36:36Z")
Genius!! ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/29 "2012-04-11T10:24:48Z")
… and common enough to yield over a [thousand Google Image results](http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&safe=off&q=or+the+teddy+bear+gets+it&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1680&bih=903&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=YVuFT9KhLM6F8gPQh-mxBw#um=1&hl=nl&safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=%22or+the+bear+gets+it%22&oq=%22or+the+bear+gets+it%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=img.3...37295l37933l2l38297l2l2l1l0l0l0l46l46l1l1l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=a1dbfb9d73d7e1c2&biw=1680&bih=959). ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406/30 "2012-04-11T11:02:44Z")
Sounds like it worked to me. 😃 Slim’s current “thing” is his [Peas In a Pod](http://www.binarymoon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/toy-story-3-peas.jpg) squinkie (which resembles a booger at this point because he’s rubbed all the paint off it) and a quarter. He used to insist on sleeping with them smashed in his fist at night but at some point he’d drop them, wake up, realize he’d dropped them and we’d all have to look for the damn things. At like 2 am. So…we solved that problem by finding a small pouch with a velcro flap. Now he has to put the quarter and the squinkie “to bed” and he can hold onto the “bed” while he sleeps. Haven’t lost the darn pouch in his sleep yet. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-parenting-or-psychopathic-parenting/618406.md?page=1)