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"Residents of an Australian city said a mother forced her young son to sit in public wearing Shrek ears and a sign proclaiming him to be 'a thief.'Witnesses said the boy, who appeared to be about 10 years old, spent nearly an hour Sunday sitting near a Townsville water park wearing the ears and the sign while his family ate lunch nearby." UPI
The UPI article doesn't say what the boy stole, this makes it difficult to determine if the punishment fits the crime. There's a big difference between stealing a cookie form a cookie jar and stealing money from his mother's purse.
If the boy stole you can argue that it's fitting and proper that he sit next to a sign proclaiming him to be a "thief." But why force the poor child to wear Shrek ears? It seems to me that the mother has psychological problems, and she enjoys humiliating her son. I find it difficult to comprehend how a mother can casually eat lunch while her child is enduring a horrible ordeal.
The mother should have punished her son by forcing him to donate some of his favorite toys to charity, and not my publicly humiliating him.
This boy may learn that stealing is wrong, unfortunately he will
also learn it's OK to demean others when he's an adult and wields a measure of authority.
