Not Your Sweetie

Chrismas at the Durstleys - and f*ed up DU story
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1098057&mesg_id=1098057&page=
quaoar  (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-25-04 10:59 AM
Original message
Dad tries to sell Christmas gifts on eBay
http://newsobserver.com/24hour/weird/story/1953401p-993...
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON (AP) - The kids were naughty, Dad put the presents on eBay instead of under the tree - and Mom's been crying ever since. Now, even the tree's down.
Saturday morning was sure not to be very jolly for three brothers - 9, 11 and 15 - who didn't straighten up when their father told them Santa wasn't too pleased with their fighting, cuss words and obscene gestures.
Dad and Mom had warned their sons that the Nintendo DS video system - and the three games that go with it - were headed for the auction block if they didn't get their act together.
"No kidding. Three undeserving boys have crossed the line. Tonight we sat down and showed them what they WILL NOT get for Christmas this year. I'll be taking the tree down tomorrow," the man announced in his eBay posting.
Sat Dec-25-04 11:08 AM
Response to Original message
2. According to the father, the boys wereEdited on Sat Dec-25-04 11:13 AM by Rowdyboy
"flipping the bird", yelling, kicking, and using improper grammar. Thats really not outrageous behavior for boys ranging in age from 9-15. Actually, it seems pretty normal to me and a bit of an overreaction on the part of the father. JMO.
Instead, he's going to give the money he makes to his church for a new heater.
on edit: the information I gives comes not from the article, but from the list site on ebay which has since been withdrawn...
Sample responses

MichiganVote (1000+ posts) Sat Dec-25-04 11:04 AM
Response to Original message
1. Harsh but good for him. Too many kids are starved for limits nowadays.

InvisibleBallots (798 posts) Sat Dec-25-04 12:38 PM
Response to Reply #28
37. That is bad how?
Sounds like the kids learned a valuable lesson. They say you become an adult the first Christmas where the presents you buy cost more than the presents you receive. Next Christmas perhaps the kids will give the gift of peace and quiet to their parents.
"Problem is not whether or not to give it. It was already given, shown, then taken away, then the tree taken down, and now the proceeds go to the church heater!"
I bet if this family was not Christian, we'd all be cheering this creative disclipline. Since he's a Christian, we must hate him. GOP Culture War is working quite well - with the badly needed aid of so called "liberal" anti-Christian bigots.
"Actually, kids do have a right to expect their parents to not sell their stuff. "
What utter bullshit - it wasn't "their stuff" - it was Christmas gift the parents were going to give them.
"Why not just stuff an electrode up their asses? That'll surely make them better people."
Wow - how did you get from a parent returning the gifts they were going to give their children, to stuffing electrodes up kids' asses? You need help?
and the better ones:
48. No, I don't need help. I teach.
The first year I taught, I had a kid in class, 17 years old, who just talked a lot. According to school regs, after three warnings, I was to call his parents. I called his dad, who assured me that he would take care of it.
The boy missed three days of school and came back with his arm in a cast and his jaw wired with several teeth missing. His dad had taken care of it all right.
I've never called another parent since, but have had many call me. Like the one whose daughter "only" made a 97 in my class instead of all 100s and so lost her car for a semester and the right to go to the prom. Like the one who withdrew his child from school because I wouldn't agree to skip the Holocaust.
The truth is, parents have no training in most cases, and like most complex tasks, fuck it up. Their kids then do the same.
I teach 300 adolescents a year from ages 15-19, and in my tenth year now. I've had serious problems with 2 in all that time. Truth is, if you tell people (kids included) what you want and why you want it, they respond about 99% of the time.
But destroying a holiday, making a public spectacle of folks, ridicule and mental cruelty, while all-American, just doesn't work. Next year, these boys will be wholly justified in raising all kinds of hell because they know that some excuse will found for canceling anyway.
This whole behaviorism and reward-punishment binge we're on is outdated, ineffective, harmful, and just quite mean. Hasn't got a damn thing to do with religion, cause you can't find a verse one that will recommend the activity herein described to parents.
Mean assholes are just mean assholes. he brought the church into it, not me"
The crap was sold for $5300 on eBay.
My closing post:

robbedvoter  (1000+ posts) Sun Dec-26-04 11:38 PM
Response to Original message
167. A story fit for our times: Daddy dearest triumphs, gets applause from
scarred children, frustrated parents...
Few notice that presents should NEVER be used as either incentives or punishment. The entire scene is reminiscent of Dudley Durstley and his tantrum that he got less than 37 presents this birthday, only this time Vernon is applying the Harry treatment: locking in the cupboard & public humiliation.
And what about the a*hole paying 5,000+ for the "educational" gesture?
Well, the entire story, reaction to it is si sordid, it somehow makes sense people here don't give a damn about democracy. With lives as empty as those, why bother?