The Meanest Mom EVER: Parenting Done Right?

The Meanest Mom EVER: Parenting Done Right?

This is a story that has been going viral lately.  Haven’t heard of Jaime Primak Sullivan, or as she is now known, “The Meanest Mom EVER”?  Here’s the backstory (if you rather watch a video, scroll down a tiny bit):

Overall, after a great day together, Sullivan took her children for an ice cream treat at DQ since they had been so well behaved.  The woman working was about 17 years old and as she passed the ice cream cones to the children, they hurriedly grabbed the cones and ran out of the store.  Not only do they know not to just run out of a store unattended (they are aged 8, 7 and 5) but they did not say a single “Thank You”.  Not to the woman working, nor to their Mother for the treat.

This shocked Sullivan, who apologetically thanked the woman and left.  When Sullivan was back with her children, she calmly took all of their ice cream and threw it in the trash.  As you can guess, the children had breakdowns and only quieted once they saw that their Mother was not freaking out at them but was waiting patiently for them to calm down. Sullivan then explained, that God willing, her children would one day have jobs like the woman who served them their ice cream and she hopes people, including children would treat THEM with some respect.

This one parenting decision, (which Sullivan posted about on her Facebook Page), caused a huge internet discussion; was this good parenting or was it overboard?  Many parents lashed out, saying there were several other ways she could have dealt with the situation.  The attention this got surprised Sullivan and she responded to everyone’s feedback in a video explaining her actions.

Personally, as a Mom-to-be who has started to think,”What would I do in a situation like that?”, I think what she did was perfect.  I understand that kids get excited over ice cream; I understand, I truly do.  Sullivan addresses this point well in the video above.

As for the backlash from parents saying she had several other options,  as she states in the video, of course she tried making her point in other ways previously but none of them had an impact.  Did she want to waste money on the ice cream that was thrown away?  Of course not.  Did she want her children to get upset after they had been having such a great weekend together?  No.  All of this was done with her best intentions in mind.

You can always buy more ice cream, but a lesson in having good manners is priceless.  Sullivan also mentioned, that if she were to pass away tomorrow, she would be leaving the world her three children and she would want them to be polite and well-mannered.  We all have our own ways in which we handle certain situations and this was hers.

As someone who has worked in Customer Service for over 10 years, I can also say that  serving children, let alone adults, who are polite rather than rude makes a world of difference.  I always used to tell parents how nice it was to see their children acting so polite and the parents always loved hearing it.  I hope that my children become respectful, well-mannered individuals and if that means I make a parenting decision like Sullivan did, so be it.

What do you think?  Do you agree with what she did?

Let me know in the comments below or find me on Facebook to join the discussion!