Father moves daughter’s messy room to driveway as a lesson in responsibility
Craig Schlichenmeyer had it with his daughter’s messy bedroom and took extreme measures to get her to clean it up. The Long County, Georgia father and Fort Stewart soldier told WTOC News, "One day I had enough of it and I just picked up her belongings and I just set her room up in the driveway." Schlinchenmeyer moved his 17-year-old daughter’s bed, desk, computer, and more outside. In front of the girl’s ‘new room’ was a plywood sign that read, “Haley, room moved to driveway/Clean it next time.”
Haley’s father praised his daughter, saying she is an honors student, and his intent with the public display was not to humiliate her. "No, my intention was just to surprise her a little bit and let her know that we were serious about taking ownership and pride in her room and you know, doing the right thing. When we tell her to clean it up, you need to clean it up," Schlichenmeyer said.
The family’s story was posted to the WTOC Facebook page on Monday and has already received over 11,000 likes and thousands of comments, mostly in support of Mr. Schlichenmeyer. Local mom, Lillian Gray praises the Georgia father for the lesson in responsibility and said, “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Hopefully she’ll remember this and when she goes out into the world she’ll be a responsible person as she moves on. She’ll remember that there are consequences to be suffered.”
Still, others are not fond of punishments using such public displays. One Facebook commenter wrote, “Is this a new contest or something? Topping the parent from the week before? These stories seem to get worse every time. Weird! Parent your kids without resorting to trying to get on the news.” Last month, GenaPool, another parent in the area issued a public punishment to her daughter, Carlie, for bullying. WTOC reported that Ms. Pool made Carlie hold a sign that read, "I'm a disrespectful bully and I'm not sorry."
The station asked licensed counselor, Jodi Spires if public punishments work. Spires believes that a parent must know their own child to determine if it will be effective, adding, “My concern would be, are you, what's being taught, the punishment or the lesson? And I would think if the punishment is too severe, I think we lose that teachable moment for the teens."
Mr. Schlichenmeyer says that he and Haley have moved past the punishment and even used the incident as an opportunity to paint her room inside the house. Despite the negative online comments, the father feels that he has the right to raise his family as he sees fit and about his daughter said, "She's a great student, honor roll student, and we're proud of her. It was just an issue of a room being clean."
Video and more info: WTOC
