I agree there are to many parent out there making excuses for the kids actions, instead of calling them on there actions. I think this is a mother that loves her son enough to make him admit the wrong doing, and pay the price. Better to be flagging a sign on a street corner.

Funny Story:

I was coming home from work one night and there was a guy dress in a tuxedo, flagging a sign on the busiest corner in town. The sign read "I'm sorry, I made the biggest mistake in my life, please forgive me Debbie!"

'Maury' featured a judge once who did the same thing to young offenders, rather than send them to juvie. All my son learned in juvie was how to be a better thief and liar. He also learned that I had no power to make him do the right things.Sometimes very stubborn kids need a serious wake up call. Maybe not all are saved, but , at least some are set straight.

I'm proud of that woman for standin' up agin' the meanness young'uns can get into. It's better that she takes him in hand than the police. Snotty little brat better be a- thankin' her for givin' a hoot.

Granny, I agree with you. It's unfortunate that the kids don't see it that way, but, that's part of a parents job. We want our childrend to grow up to be responsible, caring adults. Attitude adjustments usually come with a price.

It is the same old thing. We all try to raise our kids the best we can. (This does not include the parents who actually abuse,neglect, abandon etc. their kids) I mean the parents who give it their best shot. That is all we can do. If every parent raised their kids the exact same way and all the kids would be exactly the same what a boring mess that would be. I believe this women sitting there watching her child hold that sign is giving it her best shot. And a damn good shot. It will either humiliate him enough to make him think brfore he steals again. Or he really doesn't give a damn and will do as he pleases. Scar him for life. I don't think so. His Dad already did that.... My opinion only...

For those who think this mother went to extremes, my take on that would be because of something that I think we are missing in our discussion here and that is what has been happening to black males in our society. I think that not only did this mother want her son to take responsibility and she was willing to take this extreme measure to make it happen but I also think that perhaps for her there is the additional fear of what has been happening in our country with young black males. I hesitate to post this idea here because I really do not want to start a big onslaught of argument but it may be worth considering that this mother has more to fear at this point in our country. I have read so many posts on TBD filled with hatred toward any statement that could be construed as "liberal" and I really do not wish to start a discussion on race and white vs. black and whats wrong and Rev. Wright and blah blah blah. I just would like to make a simple statement that perhaps this women has a greater fear.

"The idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating -- pretty soon we're not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They're all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two."

--John Edwards, MTV political forum, September 27, 2007