Facebook Parenting for the Troubled Teen - Commentary

"It's not so much what you say, it's how you say it." Wise words from a friend of mine.

Tommy Jordan - "tough love" dad

Another shocking YouTube video has gone viral. Apparently a man's daughter posted an emotional rant about her parents on Facebook, using obscene language. The angry father then video recorded himself reading the rant and then shooting his daughter's laptop nine times with a .45 pistol.

On the one hand, he's drawing the line with someone he depicts as his emotional, spoiled 15-year-old daughter. And he should.

On the other hand, it appears he has burned the parent-child bridge of communication - perhaps permanently. Instead of using basic communication skills to address the issue, he reacted in a violently emotional "you don't know who you're messing with" way.

See for yourself...



Can you picture yourself owning a .45 caliber pistol? And going down to the gun store to buy a box of hollow-point ammunition? No? Then firing nine rounds into the kid's laptop in front of a video camera and posting it on YouTube for the world to see?

Well, this is the guy we're looking at. It seems to me that it's no wonder the kid has reacted emotionally to this style of parenting. I wonder where her father's daughter learned that it's okay to react the way she did?

If there ever was a case for learning and using a handful of basic communication skills, this video certainly makes it.

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2012. Building Personal Strength .