Growing up, I didn't know a single kid who liked eating their vegetables.
While my mother always put a heaping portion of greens on my plate, she wouldn't throw a fit if I didn't eat every last mouthful.
Sadly, that can't be said about one father from western Quebec, Canada.
A 42-year-old man was sentenced to four months of community service after he forced his then-eight-year-old daughter to sit at the kitchen table for 13 hours after she refused to eat her brussels sprouts.
Judge Jean-Francois Gosselin called the case "aberrant and disturbing" after it was revealed the father refused to let his daughter go to the washroom, or change her clothes once she soiled herself.
The father admitted his daughter was shivering and suffering from hypothermia during the January 2016 incident, and only allowed the young girl to shower and go to bed after she ate most of the remaining food on her plate.
"She knows she will eat it when she gets up," the man texted his ex during the incident.
After a sleepless night, the daughter decided to eat the remaining brussel sprouts, but vomited soon after.
While she was cleaning herself up, the dad had put an extra brussel sprout on her empty plate for her to eat afterwards.
The father, who works as a junior college professor in special care counselling, eventually pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful confinement was sentenced to pay a $500 charitable donation, along with his community service.
"What holds true for a six-month-old baby is also true for an eight-year-old: We do not confine an eight-year-old child to the table for 13 hours," the judge wrote in his ruling.
"When tension mounts, we deprive them of play or send them to their room, but systemic provocation is not an option," he added.
"You do not deprive a child of sleep for an entire night or forbid them from going to the bathroom. And we do not let an eight-year-old child sit for hours in soiled clothing. When we do so, we violate their integrity and dignity."
Finally, Gosselin said that since the man's actions actions were a gratuitous and cruel form of torture, he must also deal with the "consequences" of his choices.
"Now it is (his) turn to suffer the consequences of his actions," he ruled.
If this story has gotten you down, take a look at these heartwarming father-daughter pairs instead:
- Man Reunited With Long-Lost Daughter After 39 Year Search
- Dad Makes Amazing Sacrifice After Simon Disses Father-Daughter Act
- Father Teaches Daughter With Medical Condition A Lesson In Beauty
[H/T: Huffington Post]
