Woman forces stepdaughter to wear dowdy thrift store clothes as punishment for bullying

[Demo_Chris]

208. So far YOU have offered the following suggestions:

You would educate the girl by sharing factual stories about victims of bullying. You would also punish her, but not by way of public humiliation. These are necessarily and understandably vague of course, but that's often the language of the critic. Translated, you are simply saying that you would do it better, you would 'educate' and though the power of persuation the girl would learn the error of her ways. Your rhetorical prowess would convince her to change.

I would counter by saying that education is exactly what this parent did, and in a most effective way. No long speeches met with eye rolling and promises at home -- and more bullying at school -- but rather a direct and personal learning experience. The girl didn't hear about how uncomfortable it is, she lived it and she understood.

As for the "importance of clothes" arguement, the reality is that this is a load of crap. Clothes ARE important, appearance is damn near everything, and everyone knows it. It matters whether you are two or ninety-two. How you look, how you dress, how you carry yourself, is either a blessing or a curse you carry with you your entire life. It impacts the grades you get, the jobs you get, how fast you get promoted and what you can get away with, your dates and mates, it matters. And while we all might wish it were otherwise, there it is. You cannot teach someone that it doesn't matter without teaching them a lie.

What you can do, and what this parent did, was to teach the bully a deeper truth: that these things shouldn't matter, that they are superficial, and one should learn to look beyond them.