MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - On Sunday February 12, 2012 abc24.com featured a 13-year-old Memphis girl whose aunt and mother came up with a creative punishment to teach her a lesson. She actually had to stand on one of the busiest corners in town with a sign that read, “I steal from my family.” Some said it was the right thing to do, others said they went too far, that aunt Lauren Scales told abc24 the family wouldn’t change a thing.
Scales certainly knows a thing or two about hard work, as the owner of a small business she has to. It's her sense of responsibility that has recently caused a bit of a stir when she and her sister decided to discipline her 13-year-old niece Natia Wade. The youngster was caught stealing on more than one occasion and was punished countless times, her aunt told abc24.com she never learned her lesson and that’s how the idea came up.
Scales told abc24.com her niece is a bright girl, full of potential and she'd rather for this hard lesson to come now, rather than later in life.
“At 13-years-old they need to know you are about to be an adult. There are consequences and there are serious consequences,” said Scales.
After the story was published on abc24.com it was picked up by news affiliates across the country. Scales said most of the response has been positive, but there has been some backlash. However she told abc24.com that she loves her niece and eventually she'll realize why she did it.
“She can wiggle her way into and out of anything and she's going to be brilliant. We just have to redirect it into something positive,” said Scales.
