Mum sells kids' toys on eBay as punishment

By Amanda Pitcher

Monday, February 21, 2011

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Forget the naughty corner or time-outs. A mother in the US has come up with a way of disciplining her misbehaving children that is both effective and profitable.

After her two boys damaged the bathtub doing battle with their Japanese manga Beyblades spinning tops, Dana Stillwagon put her sons' treasured toys up on eBay as a punishment and a way to recoup some of the money it would take to replace the damage, MSN reported.

If you're wondering how much damage a spinning top — even a fancy one — can do, Stillwagon described some of the bathtub carnage on her sale listing on eBay.

"Beyblades + Bathtub = Destruction!!! With the metal ones they managed to scrape the enamel off the tub, take a chunk of tub out and break off the soap holder," Stillwagon wrote.

The repair bill was quoted at $500 and the eBay sale profits along with the US$125.67 from her sons' piggy banks were going towards paying for the damage, she wrote.

The listing included a photo of her two boys, one holding up a zip-lock bag containing the offending items and the other son in tears at the loss of his beloved Beyblades.

The auction eventually had to be cancelled after online community www.4Chan.com put up a post calling for people to bid on the item, causing it to rise to more than US$9000.

Your say: Do you think this is a good punishment method? What are some other out-of-the-ordinary ways you have disciplined your kids?

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User comments

My big question here is where is the responsibility on the mother these children are in the bath if she is being a responsible mother she would be in there to prevent any damage happening. This should not have happened while they were in the bath as children should be supervised when in the bath so as not to drown!!!

how can u discipline your child that is out of control when they no that u can get into trouble for doing anything about it, i smacked my child on the backside for swearing at me and then she went to school and reported me and i had children services on my doorstep that afternoon, they were going to arrest me for assaulting her and i told them that they had better have somewhere for her to go to if they did as im not to take that sort of language off a child , they pretty soon backed down ,,,but the kids are taught in the schools the ther parents are not allowed to smack them and the things they can do to there parents if they do smack them,,,, we were smacked as kids for doing the wrong things and we do hate our parents for doing it but it taught us were our boundries were and to respect them and other people

i totally agree with this. why not? kids need to learn that if you caused damage to someone elses property, you have to pay for it. my mum did the same thing. sort of. my sister and i wouldnt clean our room, and mum threatened she would give away all our toys. then one day, we came home from school, and all of the toys that were on the floor had been given away. it certainly taught us a lesson.

i still remember when my mum gave all my toys to an opshop when i was a kid i cried for days and i turned out extremely violent its not a good idea at all its sickening her kids are gunna have some serious problems i feel sorry for them its people like her that turn innocent kids into ***

good to see not a bleeding heart mother children have no respect ,if you are of the opinion she is a bad mother, well you best look in the mirror and crap in your own backyard first well done lady

Well done, good to hear a mother taking action and not just saying "stop or I will say stop again". So sick and tired of all the bleeding hearts out there tell parents how to raise kids. Take a look around, I have never seen so much disrespect from kids in my life. Bring back putting the fear of God back in our kids. I was more concerned about my Mum then the cops when I was growing up, that’s why we behaved, not because of the police but because of what Mum might do if she found out. And no I was never beaten etc, worst case I was smacked with a wooden spoon on my ***! I don’t condone child abuse in any way (smacking a child is NOT child abuse) majority of people don’t, So how about the so called experts worry about people who actually beat, starve and miss treat children and not the parents actually being parents!

To start off with i would never buy such dangerous toys to my own kids and if they are *** i would take it off them for some time untill they Realize what they have done and when they have earned the toys back and if they do *** stuff again then yes you should punish them like what you have just done, but i would say at this time give them a second chance after all they are your kids and as a mum i am sure you dont want to see them sad,,,

Waves her wand and the toys are gone - what a ***!

What a fantastic idea, one I will store in my memory bank for ym future children. MammaMia did have some valid points though. One punishment my mother used on me and my sisters was sort of similar. We all had difficulty keeping our bedrooms tidy so mum went in one day when i wasnt home, scooped up everything not in the right place, and held it all hostage. I had to buy back EVERY item for $1 per piece. She even had my hairbrush! I gotta say, it worked to some extent, my room has never been that untidy since.

Finally parents parenting again and not trying to befriend their children. This is no different to toys being given to charity when we were young. Kids today are spoiled little brats. They need to be taught cause and consequence. This mother deserves Mother of the Year!