A lot of people jumped on me for my post about the charming individual who shot holes in his daughter's laptop for complaining online. They reported feeling that I was being overly lenient towards the daughter while not appreciating the respect that the father deserved.
So I'll quickly reiterate my position without going into any nuances. I don't think the daughter was blameless - asking for payment for doing chores was inappropriate. If you are part of a household then part of its duties are yours. However, those particular comments aside...all she actually did was complain.
She didn't steal anything, she didn't hit anyone, she didn't violate anyone...all she did was complain.
The last I checked, complaining is not some terrible felony. Everyone does it and it's fairly harmless as well as probably being psychologically healthy. It does not necessarily signify being spoiled or lacking an appropriate perspective on life. Humans are emotional animals, and no matter how much we have to be grateful for, sometimes, we simply get tired, unmotivated, moody or angry.
Behaving as he did simply because she complained was way out of proportion, as well as overlooking the fact that she did, from what I gather from her description of her 5am to 10pm day, have a point. If he had simply retaliated verbally over the internet, I could get behind that no problem. If he had simply gotten mad without acting on it, that was his right too. If he had taken the laptop and made her earn it back via mature behaviour, that would be reasonable too - not as punishment for complaining per se, but for asking for payment for cleaning her own house, which I do agree was immature and inappropriate. But shooting up a computer as punishment for complaining is akin to executing someone for jaywalking.
Yes, he's her father and the adult. This does not exempt him from behaving like a sane human being.
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