Many girls are fashion mavens. Whether this interest is developed at a young age or as they mature, at one point or another, they will become obsessed with wearing the latest and greatest. Young Kaylee Olsen – Ally Olsen’s step daughter – developed this dangerous love of fashion at a young age…The young Olsen was taking that interest to an extreme in her behavior at school, bullying other kids for what they were wearing – one young girl in particular.
So Ally, her mother, came up with something amazing to do to teach her daugher how fundamentally upsetting that behavior can be. She took Kaylee to a thrift shop and picked the clothes that Kaylee described as “the ugliest in the store”. However, the young girl did not know that she wearing those clothes for the next two days.
After the two left the thrift shop, the Olson parents remained silent until the next day. They picked out a dress from the selection that Kaylee had picked as ugly. They forced her to wear the dress to school for that day, and another “ugly” outfit the next day. As predicted, her classmates began to tease her. She had to endure the teasing that she had been jabbing at her classmates. Kaylee later commented that she was “the same person”, and realized that it doesn’t matter how you dress. Though the lesson itself is sweet, what happened between her and the girl she had been making fun of for the clothing she wore is even better.
After Kaylee went through the two days in the other girl’s shoes, she immediately apologized to her. Though unclear how long it took, the two have since become good friends. Kaylee’s attitude about judging people for what they wear has been completely turned on its head. Kaylee learned exactly what the parents had hoped she would, and that they couldn’t be any happier with how the situation turned out.
Parent experts are at odds with how the Olsen family went about teaching Kaylee empathy: they have noted that humiliation teachesis not a good way to teach a lesson, it teaches kids that they are less than those who they have hurt. However, the Olson parents hold firm. Kaylee’s self-esteem does not seem to have taken a dive and she has made a friend because of her parents punishment. There are many ways to teach a child that their behavior is not good, who’s to really say which one’s the right one?
The Olsen family may seem like they have an extreme style, but there is quite a lot of happiness that has come out of the experiment – for both Kaylee and the little girl she had been bullying. Now, she has learned what to do when she feels down about her clothes, and has found a way to share her love of fashion in a more friendly way than she was before. That is quite possibly the best outcome of the punishment.