With all the debates these days about the right and wrong way to parent, it's nice to find a clever story we can all appreciate.
When I first came across Cierra Forney's Facebook post, I knew I just had to share it.
The mom of three and entrepreneur from Georgia recently shared a lesson she taught her son about humility, and it involved one of my favorite pastimes: a trip to the local Goodwill.
As Forney explains, her "entitled" son thought he was "too good" for the discount store.
"In 15 years he will look back and laugh at the day his Mom made him shop at Goodwill"
Forney shared a photo of her 13-year-old son dragging clothes around Goodwill this week.
Since then, the picture and the parenting story attached to it have gone viral for all the right reasons, and over 250,000 people have shared it.
Forney writes that her boy had been “acting like he’s too good to shop at Walmart, or making snarky comments about kids at school who shop at Goodwill.”
So how did the clever mom teach her kid a lesson?
She gave him $20 of his own money, and sent him to Goodwill to buy a week's worth of school clothes.
Her clever lesson paid off in a surprising way, and Forney shared the results on social media.
"He isn't happy and shed a few tears"
At first, Forney admits that her son wasn't too happy about her shopping challenge.
“He isn't happy and shed a few tears," she wrote on Facebook.
"But I firmly believe in 15 years he will look back and laugh at the day his Mom made him shop at Goodwill.”
It was definitely an example of tough love, but other parents appreciated Forney for taking the time to teach her son about life.
"What a great lesson!" one dad commented.
"I've had to teach my 15 year old a similar lesson. His problem is he said he wouldn't wear it if it wasn't some big name brand! I wish he had siblings like I did and had to wear hand-me-downs."
But after a few comments criticized Forney's "punishment," she set the record straight in a follow-up post.
"My son is completely, 100% okay with what happened"
Forney said she had "NO idea" her post would go viral, and wanted to clear the air after facing criticism from other moms.
“I didn't do this to punish him," she wrote on Facebook.
"It wasn't to show him that Goodwill isn't a good place to shop. I did this to teach him that money and name brands don't change who we are as people.”
She added that her son is "100% okay with what happened," and was actually enjoying his new clothes.
But Forney isn't the only parent who got in trouble for some creative parenting.