Talk about creative parenting. One barber in Atlanta decided that he had to do something about his son's failing grades and even poorer attitude. 34-year old Russell Fredrick of the A-1 Kutz barbershop took matters into his own hands - or shears, rather - and gave his son such a bad haircut that the boy immediately did a one-eighty and pulled his act together.
The haircut made the 12-year old look like he was a balding old man, just like the haircut's movie inspiration, Benjamin Button. Frederick said that because the haircut was so successful in making his own son change his ways, he decided to offer the same haircut for free to children of other parents who are also at their wits ends on how to discipline their children into improving their school work.
According to reports, Fredrick said that the response to his offer for free Benjamin Button haircuts has been mostly positive and he believes that it is a reflection of how many parents are forced to get creative in how they discipline their children.
However, he also believes that any form of punishment must be given with open communication with the child so that they understand why it is they are being given such an extraordinary form of punishment and what they must do in order to make amends.
"I hope that most people won't have to do this unless it's an extreme circumstances and nothing else is working. First, you talk or implement your restrictions. But when the conventional ways don't work these days, you have to get creative," he said.
But some child psychologists think that this form of punishment is akin to public shaming which may have detrimental psychological effects on children in the long run.
"What happens after humiliation is that a child begins to make decisions based on fear rather than what's right or wrong. We want kids to make choices based on their internal compass rather than being afraid of embarrassing punishment," said Amy McCready who authored the book If I Have to Tell You One More Time.
Despite the mixed views, Fredrick already had one taker for his free haircuts offer. A single mother of a 10-year old brought her child in after he started acting up in school. Fredrick posted a photo of the kid's haircut on social media and it immediately went viral.
The child's mother said the haircut worked and her son, just like Fredrick's boy, completely changed his attitude and improved at school.
A week later, the kid even returned to the barbershop, all smiles, saying he had learned his lesson. He even started calling himself "Old Man Jenkins," according to his mother. Frederick then gladly repaired the Benjamin Button cut.
"He understood why it happened and he rolled with it and allowed it to make him stronger. You gotta reach these kids somehow, and I would gladly do it again," he said.
