I have refrained from commenting because I do not have children, (1 stepdaughter) but I think what he did deserves a little praise. I read the link that Wildchild provided above and he sounds to me like a pretty great dad. His methods may not suit all, but he obviously knows his kid and what works with her. He has repeatedly made his comments and replies strictly through his facebook page. He has turned down many, many requests for interviews because he 1. does not want him or his daughter to profit in any way from this. And 2. Wants his words to remain his...not be edited to say something twisted. I clearly remember some pretty harsh punishment when I was a belligerent teen. I was never physically disciplined, but I remember as if it was yesterday how mad my father was and I never wanted to cross that line again...and never did. I love my father dearly as I know he loves me. I survived and grew to have a much deeper respect for parenting. (he and Mom raised 6 girls!) I think this man may have acted a little irrational, shooting her computer but certainly turned it into a teachable moment. I dont care if it could have been donated or not...it was their property, their punishment. I applaud him for the act of following through with his discipline. ( I think this is where many drop the ball and kids know it) He and his daughter I believe have bonded over this experience. As he mentioned...she will never again doubt his commitment to following through on doing what he says he will do. (good or bad)

Sorry, I didn't mean to do a post and run. I've had a crazy weekend. My name is Deb, and I've actually been on GW off and on since 1999. I post mostly over on Florida Gardening, Brugmansias, and sometimes on Cactus and Succulents. I write articles...lots and lots of articles. I also have a few blogs that are sadly neglected, so I'm trying to get them back up and running, especially my gardening blog. I'm in my late 50's, have lupus, and of course, love to garden. I live in SW Florida and am soon moving to Gainesville, a whole zone north of me, where I will not have a yard at first. I'm going to try to get into a community garden there, so I can at least grow my veggies and some of my plants. Moving at my age is hard, and I thought I'd never leave here, but circumstances forced me to make a choice, so I'm leaving. This yard is too much for me to take care of anymore. I need a break from all this physical labor, but I know I could not live without gardening, so I'm thinking my African Violets will be my new indoor project. I have two sons, 25 and 37, and they both live in Chicago. No, we aren't from Chicago, the older one was there and the younger one was in Seattle and decided he wanted to be with his brother, so there they are. So far, they are both doing well, just going through the normal trials of life, which they moan to me about just like I moaned to my mother when she was living. I am estranged from my family by choice, so my sons are my only family. I'm happier that way. I'm a Pantheist, which is not Christian, but I do believe in God. I just define him differently. To me, God is nature...all of nature, including humans. I searched for many years to find a spiritual path I could follow, and tried everything but Satanism in the process (but I did read about it and it is very scary...totally based on 'self' and making yourself happy, no matter what the consequence). I settled on Pantheism because it makes sense to me. There is no one and nothing to blame if things go wrong or bad things happen. It is all just part of the cycle of life, and that is hard to accept sometimes, but it makes more sense to me than angels and demons. I do pray, so I will be asking for and giving out many prayers. Enough for now. I'm sure you will learn more about me as we go along. Thanks again for the welcome! Here, have some chocolate. I just happen to have extra. Here is a link that might be useful: My Gardening Blog, in case you're interested

To make my point clearer. You can google my username and find my public posts. No problem. Your not going to find out 1 thing about Linda H. I googled a member's name and location and found out how old she was because it was mentioned in an article about her DUI auto wreck. I also found out she was in divorce proceedings. Of course, if you're alright with other KT members (and all the "friends" who have access) googling your name and location, so be it. Of course, I think this problem applies to all of Facebook.

Back when I first stumbled across this forum and started thinking about winter sowing, I asked my neighbor who goes to the town landfill every Monday to bring me a truckload of recycled gallon milk jugs. I'd come home Monday evenings to find the bed of my pick-up inside the garage filled. He asked what I wanted with them (we're friends as well as neighbors and all of us garden). I told him about winter sowing and he howled with laughter. When my first sprouts showed up mid-March, I showed them to him. He stopped laughing. Later that year I found an envelope stuffed in my kitchen door when I got home from work. There were 4 apple tree seeds and 10 pear tree seeds inside with a note that read, "Please grow these for me." I WS the seeds and in May of that year gave him 4 apple tree seedlings and 10 pear tree seedlings. The trees were taller than he is a couple of years ago. Folks that question the method can probably benefit by this post. FYI - I WS 538 milk jugs that first year.