Kids suing parents

June 20, 2008 By 9 Comments

It isn’t just the deconstruction of marriage we are facing, it is the deconstruction of the family, with its constituent authorities and responsibilities, with the state taking its place. Consider this from Canada, Court overturns father’s grounding of 12-year-old:

A Canadian court has lifted a 12-year-old girl’s grounding, overturning her father’s punishment for disobeying his orders to stay off the Internet, his lawyer said Wednesday.

The girl had taken her father to Quebec Superior Court after he refused to allow her to go on a school trip for chatting on websites he tried to block, and then posting “inappropriate” pictures of herself online using a friend’s computer.

The father’s lawyer Kim Beaudoin said the disciplinary measures were for the girl’s “own protection” and is appealing the ruling. . . .

According to court documents, the girl’s Internet transgression was just the latest in a string of broken house rules. Even so, Justice Suzanne Tessier found her punishment too severe.

HT: Don S

Filed Under: Uncategorized 9 Comments
About Gene Veith

Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.

  • Orianna Laun

    I suppose this court would rule our Lutheran School too harsh for not letting an 8th grader go on their class trip for their “latest in a string of broken [school] rules.”
    It is clear that courts do not study discipline. They need a little Love and Logic (www.loveandlogic.com), which is what it seems the father was attempting to do.
    Maybe it’s not the place of the court to discipline; only punish. Just wait until the girl is back in court in a few years because she was a “victim” of a too-harsh police officer who arrested her for committing a crime which will be the “latest in a string of broken civil laws.” Then they’ll wonder how a good girl can go wrong.

  • Manxman

    The root things being deconstructed in marriage issues and in this rebellion by the Canadian girl and her empowerment by the Canadian court system are actually the Biblical concepts of authority and hierarchy.

    “Inequality” in any form has become the ultimate evil to the liberals, and the desire to force their toxic concept of equality on society is one of their key motivations as they attack on traditional institutions and structures.

  • Joe

    Oh Canada – what are you doing? How does this kid have standing to get into a court? I am shocked. Do Candian courts ever decline jurisdiction?

  • FullTime

    So, would his cutting off the internet connection have been too harsh? Seems to me she got off easy with losing the trip. If one of my girls pulled this they would get what the court said, go on the trip. But life would be very different when she returned. (Internet connection gone, X-box or other game system gone, a lot of other perks- gone)

    I knew the Canadian laws were different but I did not realize that extracurricular activities were guaranteed by law. Amazing

  • CRB

    This is a clear instance of judicial hubris, not unlike that of our “Supremes” declaring the enemy has a right to a trial. God save the queen?! God save our country!!!

  • http://www.scyldingsinthemeadhall.blogspot.com The Scylding

    Heh – shows you the amount of variation in Canada. Here in Saskatchewan the school refuses to take repeated offenders on school outings. And they respect parents’ disciplinary descisions as well. But I have no idea what the courts will say (if they’l say anything!)

  • http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com Bike Bubba

    I’m with the poster who wonders if the child would even have standing were the case to arise in the U.S. Of course, social services could start the case here, but in the Canadian case it appears that the kid is the petitioner.

    Weird.

  • Patrick Kyle

    Oh yeah,

    The inmates are running that asylum.

  • ducky

    Reminds me od Middle School where 12 going on 20 females were common. Students were gaining practice in deceit. Often parents were not home when student arrived. After much praise for being “responsible”, student defined responsibility her way.
    The is the fruit of autonomy as practiced in the West.