When does setting boundaries for your kid turn into trying to control everybody else?

Jameel Mayers and August Black are back with another round of Certified Bad Examples pulled from the social media zeitgeist.

First up: Oreo Gate. A kindergarten parent reportedly asks other families to stop sending Oreos to school because her daughter isn’t allowed to have them. Is that a reasonable request, or is learning to deal with disappointment part of growing up?

Then things get much more serious. Jameel and August discuss a Baton Rouge mother arrested after allegedly whipping her sons for breaking into someone else’s home, and why punishment and accountability aren’t necessarily the same thing.

They also get into the backlash over a Target Halloween costume criticized for resembling racist blackface and minstrel imagery, including questions about representation, DEI, and how something like this makes it all the way to the shelf.

Finally, they discuss a disturbing case involving a Kentucky mother accused of forcing her 14-year-old daughter to drink alcohol as punishment after catching her drinking.

Through all four stories, one question keeps coming back: are we actually teaching kids how to make better decisions, or are adults sometimes making things worse in the name of parenting?

Plus: kindergarten, doom scrolling, cursive handwriting, raising Black children with an awareness of the world around them, and why every kid needs to know there’s an adult they can call when they screw up.

Have your own Certified Bad Example? Send it our way.

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