Mum punishes daughter with 'Mummy's Juvenile Detention' and receives very mixed reactions

The nine-year-old was punished for bullying and bad behaviour at school

Mum's punishment receives mixed reactions (Stock)

A mum’s decision to punish her young daughter’s bad behaviour by turning her room into “mummy’s juvenile detention” has people divided over what are appropriate and acceptable parenting techniques.

Amanda Mitchell, from Newfoundland and Labrador, shared the pictures of her nine-year-old daughter’s punishment on Facebook, which showed a room devoid of everything except a bare bed and one outfit laid out.

According to Mitchell, who has since deleted her Facebook post, her daughter Hannah had been accused of bullying classmates and acting out in class.

“The result: an empty room. She has nothing. Welcome to Mummy’s Juvenile Detention little girl,” Mitchell wrote before adding that her daughter would be wearing the same anti-bullying shirt all week.

Hannah would also be required to write lines, 50 times each, of anti-bullying sentiments such as “I will not lie” and “I will be kind to everyone” in order to “earn her things back one at a time.”

“Harsh? Not in my opinion. If she grows up to break the law then the result is jail and that’s not what I want for my children. I think the problem with this generation is inadequate punishment. Punishment is bad we should only use positive reinforcement and ignore all bad behaviour - NOT in this house,” the mum wrote.

Mitchell’s unusual punishment garnered the attention of hundreds of parents, who shared their opinions on the method.

Many of the commenters agreed with Mitchell's tactic, posting variations of “good job mum!” and “smart parenting.”

“Kids gotta learn there are consequences to their actions and it’s parents who should be teaching them. Kudos to this mum,” one person wrote on Twitter.

However, others felt the punishment was too harsh for a child - “She’s nine! The only thing this proves is an inability to effectively parent,” someone commented - which convinced Mitchell to slightly amend her daughter’s sentencing.

Mitchell told Global News, instead of 50 lines, Hannah would only be required to copy 25 - and she’d have four anti-bullying shirts to rotate rather than being forced to wear the same one.

Mitchell also revealed that she sat her daughter down to discuss her behaviour before stripping her room of her belongings to ensure there were no underlying issues that were causing her to act out.

Of the divided response, Mitchell said the majority of comments were positive, with just "15, 20 messages that were sent to me that were nasty and telling me I’m a terrible parent."

And despite the backlash, the mum-of-two is adamant that she is helping her child - who has been "very remorseful" - by punishing her for her bad behaviour.

“I just want people to know that I’m not a terrible parent. I try really hard to be a great mum. I’ve been a single mum for most of their lives and I’ve worked really hard to provide a good life for them,” she said.