So, two kids have a brief brain explosion at an airport ...
(photos from Facebook)
There is the Blog by Brendon Malone doing the rounds on Facebook entitled "Son, Your Character is More Important to Me than Legal Action". This takes the writer's personal point of view as the parent of a two year old and imagines what this two year old might say in his defence, if as teenager he had been sent home having broken the law on a sports trip. It basically argues that the boys parents have undermined the school's view of the code of conduct and by doing to have done a disservice to their children's upbringing and character. A commonly held position on this issue.
I agree with Malone that kids need consequences and that it is bad for parents to be wishy washy on rules.
I disagree with Malone's application of these principles to the current case. Malone's argument is fatally flawed for four reasons:
