Dad didn't know teen daughter was secretly fat-shaming a girl at school—his response to bullying garners praise from people
Trigger warning: This story contains themes of suicide that some readers may find distressing.
The act of bullying causes some of the most horrible destruction and consequences. Some bullying cases go extreme and cause students to end their lives under pressure. A father — who goes by u/FrontpageWatch on Reddit — revealed that when he learned his teenage daughter had been such a cruel bully, he took matters into his own hands. He decided to teach her a powerful lesson, which is being applauded by many. He said that he is a single dad to three girls, and his oldest, Callie, has been nothing short of a perfect human being and daughter. She had never given him a reason to complain until he received an unbelievable phone call.
“It was a crying mother telling me that my daughter was involved in harassing another girl at her school. Callie and her friends took pictures of the girl in ‘funny’ poses, such as bending over to pick something up and her butt crack was showing,” the post read. Since the girl was “overweight,” the students took pictures in such a way that they deliberately intended to fat-shame her. “The mother said that her daughter tried to slit her wrists this morning and was in the hospital,” the dad recalled. He was struck by what he heard and the fact that his bullying daughter went against everything he had been teaching her all her life hit him hard.
“From what I have heard, Callie was the ringleader in all this,” he noted. The dad was confused and clueless about how to react. He ensured he would go to the bottom of the situation. When he went through her computer, he found a folder titled "fatty.” He added that the folder contained pictures of the victim and there was also an anonymous Facebook account fat-shaming the girl. The dad decided to confront his daughter. She was at the beach with her friends and would be home within a few hours. However, he got a call from her telling him she would be staying at her friend's home. Even though he refused, she didn't listen and ended the call.
The dad was not having it, so he went to her friend's home. Upon arriving, he learned that her daughter or her friend was not there, as the house was empty. They were at a park enjoying a party. When he arrived, he saw her drinking alcohol and couldn't believe it was his daughter. He reached out to her and asked her to leave, which angered her. After a heated argument about another situation, the dad “snapped.” “I’m not sure what I said, but it was along the lines of, ‘You should be embarrassed! You put a girl in the hospital because of what you and your friends have been up to and now you have lied to me, and you are drinking underage alcohol. Your mother would be so ashamed of you. I don't even know who you are anymore,’” the post read.
In an attempt to teach her a lesson, the dad took away her devices and asked her to post a public apology on Facebook while naming herself for what she had done. “When she logged in, I immediately looked through her posts. It wasn't just one person she had posted about. This Facebook page was dedicated to making fun of the ‘nerds and loners’ of the school. There must have been 50 pictures,” the dad said. “I made it clear that she was not to do anything for the rest of the summer. All plans are canceled,” the dad noted. He also added other consequences to her actions.
“Mandatory therapy once a week, community service, when the girl gets out of the hospital, Callie is going to apologize to her and her family,” were a few of them. The dad added, “I have taken the door of her room off its hinges. No privacy for a while.” The dad also discontinued the provision of all luxury items she had been using all along. “I told her to think things over. If she wants to fight me, then I will add more restrictions. If she takes her punishment and agrees to these terms, then I will consider the duration,” he remarked. u/Cadfael18 said, “If more parents did this, there would - hopefully - be less tragic outcomes of bullying.” u/CarrieGyrl added, “Yes, he was justified! Therapy, yes, 100% agree.”
