"You'd think it was sexual molestation," the lawyer, told the New York Post Thursday. "I am just floored by it."
The exasperated lawyer says in his lawsuit that a Manhattan psychiatrist (apparently treating his four year old son)
filed a report saying he was “wholly incapable of taking care of his son” and
should be denied his weekend visitation because he refused to give in to his
son’s demands that they go to McDonalds.
The father, an experienced corporate attorney turned consultant with
degrees from NYU and Oxford University with who knows how many high-powered
courtroom and boardroom battles under his belt, had planned to take his
4-year-old son to their usual restaurant for
his weekly Tuesday night visitation last week (Obviously dad's choice did not have a Play Land).
But the boy threw a temper tantrum and demanded McDonald’s.
So he gave his son an ultimatum: dinner anywhere other than McDonald’s — or no
dinner at all.
“The child, stubborn as a mule, chose the ‘no dinner’
option,” the disgruntled dad says in the suit.
“It was just a standoff and I’m kicking myself mightily,” ( I would be too—a standoff with someone at
least three feet shorter and 150 lbs. lighter is fairly embarrassing.)
“I wish I had taken him to McDonalds, but you get nervous
about rewarding bad behavior (probably something he is an expert witness on). I was concerned. I think it was a 1950s equivalent of sending
your child to bed without dinner. That’s maybe the worst thing you can say
about it,” he said.
Adding insult to injury, he said: “My wife immediately took
him to McDonalds.”
So, where did our lawyer turned parent go wrong? I am afraid his problems began long before
his decision to finally man up to his four year old and tell him no. But that is a story for another day in court.
Personally, I think he should have given his son a spanking
rather than an ultimatum but that’s just me.
I don’t tend to find much value in negotiating with pre-schoolers when
it comes to who’s the boss. Call my
parenting style—“pre-1950s”—but there’s something to be said about kids who
behave, are respectful to and actually obey their parents the first time. Call it “old-fashioned, unsophisticated, outlandish, biblical, or in some places—illegal but I think a dad or mom who stands their ground and lovingly
applies “the board of education” to “the seat of learning” and thus earns the
respect, obedience, and loving submission of their children is a far more fit
parent than he who makes a lot of noise arguing with and then caving into a
four year old who learned before he was 18 months old that the world revolved
around him.
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