Being a parent to a cocky, disrespectful teenager is far from easy, and different parents have different approaches to get their children to behave.
One mom, Heidi Johnson, wrote a handwritten letter to her son, Aaron, and shared it on Facebook. She didn’t intend for the post to go viral. She didn’t even intend to make the post public. It was supposed to just be for friends to see, but she does not regret her post or the fact that it’s public.
In the letter to her 13-year-old son, Johnson reprimanded her son treating her like a “roommate.” She went on to give him an itemized bill for rent, food, etc that totaled over $700. If he was going to treat her like a roommate instead of his mom, she would do the same.
Johnson signed the note, “Love Mom,” and she truly does love her son. She followed up the post with another post explaining some backstory to the situation. She also reassured parents who were criticizing her that “I am not going to put my 13 year old on the street if he can’t pay his half of the rent. I am not wanting him to pay anything. I want him to take pride in his home, his space, and appreciate the gifts and blessings we have.”
She added that she never intended for Aaron to pay the bill. Instead, she wanted him to “gain an appreciation of what things cost.” The reason Johnson wrote the note was to make sure her son understood “what life would look like if I was not his ‘parent,’ but rather a ‘roommate.’ It was a lesson about gratitude and respect from the very beginning.”
Johnson also explained that before she wrote the note, her son had lied about doing his homework, and when she told him she was going to restrict his internet access, he responded, “Well, I am making money now.” She explained that the money he was referring to was a little bit of income he was making from his YouTube channel, but not nearly enough to pay for food and rent.
The public note has not hurt Johnson’s relationship with her son. She explained, “He and I still talk as openly as ever. He has apologized multiple times.”
Johnson has also had parents turning to her for advice since she posted the note to her son. She explains, “My post seems to have opened a door, and people feel safe coming to me and asking for advice, venting, or even just have someone bear witness to their experience by listening and opening up and sharing a piece of myself in return.”
The cow began to lose milk, and the farmer noticed that she was leaving in the evening for the forest. He decided to follow
Steve, a farmer from Scotland, kept a small herd of dairy cows. The man saw one day that Lila, who was normally the one who gave the most milk, was completely out of milk. After receiving assurances from the veterinarian that the animal was healthy, the farmer chose to examine the cow more closely in the meadow along the forest’s border. He quickly discovered that the cow occasionally ventures into the forest in the evening and made the decision to follow her. Every time, the farmer brought the cows to graze in a clearing close to the forest. The man noticed that Leela was falling behind the group and decided to pursue her. He moved cautiously, not wanting to scare the animal away, and eventually he arrived at a clearing surrounded by trees. The cow positioned herself a little bit farther away, hiding something.
Steve approached and noticed a tiny calf. Lila appears to have taken it to the clearing a few weeks prior, perhaps in an attempt to conceal it from view. The farmer needed roughly ten minutes to figure out why this was happening. Every calf that we remove is raised apart from the adults before being moved to a new herd.
Steve told reporters that it appeared Leela was not pleased with how things were going. Consequently, the cow was left with the calf. Steve chose to reconsider how he was going to manage the farm.
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