After finding "inappropriate" pictures of his daughter on the web, an exasperated father grounded his 12-year-old daughter and refused to allow her to go on a three-day school trip. Her response was to sue him, and guess what? She won.
In it's infinite wisdom, the Quebec Superior Court has ruled that the punishment meted out by the girls father was too severe and ruled in the minor child's favor. Even though this last episode is just the latest in a long string of transgressions,
Justice Suzanne Tessier overturned the father's grounding.
LIke a lot of parents, the 12-year-old's father had banned access to certain web sites. The youngster by-passed the security settings her father had set to block her access, used one of her friend's computers to access those same sites, and posted pictures of herself that are being described as "
inappropriate for a child her age".
Kim Bedouin, who is the father's lawyer, said that the disciplinary measures taken were done in the interest of protecting the young girl and is planning an appeal.
As AFP reports:
She's a child. At her age, children test their limits and it's up to their parents to set boundaries. I started an appeal of the decision today to reestablish parental authority, and to ensure that this case doesn't set a precedent.
Beaudoin says that this case must be appealed, otherwise:
parents are going to be walking on egg shells from now on. I think most children respect their parents and would never go so far as to take them to court, but it's clear that some would and we have to ask ourselves how far this will go.
