When I was nine years old, my mom deliberately put a pair of my jeans through the wash knowing full well I'd thrown them in the dirty laundry with my Pokémon cards still in the pockets. She did this to teach me an important lesson about emptying my pockets before throwing my jeans in the wash. Naturally, after seeing Mew and Charizard resorted to mush, I cried.
But I also learned two things that day; never to leave things in your pockets, and that parents will happily destroy the things you love in order to bring you to your knees and teach you a lesson.
Another parent who took my mom's 'Teach Your Kids A Lesson By Breaking Their Heart' class, was Tre Cosby, an American father who wanted to rectify his son's failing grades by taking away his biggest distraction - his son's beloved PlayStation 4.
Any PlayStation fans may want to look away now (and any Xbox fans will want to watch until the very end):The video opens with the father saying: "Hey world, once again, these kids and their electronics - and they don’t wanna act right, so guess what? My youngest is gonna get his PlayStation demolished."
He's gotta be bluffing, right? Well, no.
After bringing his son to attention in the house, Tre explains exactly what's about to go down: "You was watching YouTube videos again this morning on PlayStation? What did I tell you next time was gonna happen? Did I tell you your PlayStation was gonna get it?"
However, Tre - being one part caring father, two parts evil genius - tells his son that it won't be him destroying his PS4 and that his son will have to "tear his own s**t up".
After handing his son a crowbar, the dad then marches his son to the driveway, where he proceeds to order him to smash up his beloved games console - an act which brings his son to tears.
And in case you thought the young boy could have got away with just doing some cosmetic damage, Tre then decides to smash it with a boulder and then run over the PlayStation in his car - brutal!
There are many arguments to be made about Tre's unique parenting technique. Could he not have donated the console? What will his son learn from destroying an expensive piece of tech? Could he have chosen a less aggressive method?
But I can almost guarantee you that his son learned a very important lesson that day; stick and stones may break my bones, and they'll also f*** up your PlayStation.
