What would you do if you found your teen son stealing from you?
Pamela Webb, a Savannah mom, decided that if her son was taking stuff from the family’s home, she’d punish him outside, right in front of everyone in Savannah — for at least 5 days.
“As a responsible parent I decided to nip it in the bud,” said Pamela Webb. “I just got fed up.”
Webb was ready to do something about it.
“This may not work for other parents. But it works for me,” said Webb.
What worked for Pamela, is a very public punishment.
“It’s working. He’s mad. It’s working,” smiled Pamela, who plans to move her son to different street corners in the city as the week goes on.
She says her son 14-year-old Tyrese, was stealing from her.
“You afraid he would go to jail?” a reporter asked.
“If he kept on the actions he is taking right now, possibly,” said Webb.
So she made sure everyone would know about her son, the thief.
“Punishing kids by whipping or beating them is wrong,” explains Webb. “So public shame nips it in the bud. Right now he says I’m not going to do it again, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t do it again.”
Tyrese spent an hour on the corner of MLK and Gwinnett wearing the sign.
The message was simple,”I am a thief.” “I have stolen from my parents.”
“What’s it like walking around here with a sign saying you are a thief?” a reporter asked Tyrese.
“Embarrassing,” said Tyrese Robinson. “Everyone taking pictures of me, videos of me walking around.”
Folks even stopped their cars to compliment mom for trying a different form of punishment.
“Try public humiliation, see if that works,” said a passerby named Wanda. “She’s trying and I commend her for that.”
Commendations are fine, but apologies are what this mom wants.
“Do you have anything to say about what your mom said?” a reporter asked.
“I’m not going to do it any more,” said Tyrese. “It’s a public shame because you are here. If you see me, do not do this. What it written on this board.”
“You think he’s learned his lesson?”
“No,” said Pamela. “This is day one.”
“We have 5 more days, or 6 more. It depends.”
You heard it right, Tyrese will be wearing that sign 2 hours a day for the rest of the week.
Pamela says she will be moving him around, corner to corner so more folks get to see his shame.
