Baltimore Riot Mom Toya Graham – Mom of the Year?

Just recently the world was stunned by the riots that broke out in Baltimore. Protests turned violent, curfews went into effect and good citizens waited for peace to be restored to their city. In the midst of all this, one parent stood out for being caught on camera ripping her son right from those riots and virtually dragging him out of the crowd. Her name is Toya Graham, a single mother who happened to see her son on TV throwing rocks at the police officers. She swooped into action, went out and found him and then landed more than a few swift backhands across the head. In an interview, Toya said, “That’s my only son and at the end of the day I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray. I was angry. I was shocked, because you never want to see your child out there doing that.”

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts thanked her in remarks to the media, saying, “I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there…”

While many are calling Ms. Graham Mother of the Year, there is still a mix of sentiment regarding Toya’s parenting on that day. Some say she went too far, embarrassing her son by hitting him in public. Others believe that if she was such a good parent, her child wouldn’t have been out there in the first place.

Then there’s a third opinion, which I tend to agree with. That opinion is no matter how well we instill in our children our values and what we consider right and wrong behavior, when they get out into the world, there are going to be options and temptations that as parents, we simply can’t always shield our children from. It’s important for them to learn to make their own choices and learn from the consequences of those choices, too. When they make poor choices we don’t relinquish all parenting and care and just turn our backs. Instead, those times can be opportunities to find out what else is going on in their lives and open up the lines of communication that may have been closed off. If our children can’t come to us with their struggles they may solicit advice from the wrong people. We never want to get to the point where we beat our children into making the right decision.

I would love to hear your thoughts. In your opinion, was Toya Graham right to snatch her son off the streets during the Baltimore riots? Would you have done it differently? Let me know in the comments below.