Creative Parenting? Or Abuse?

It's tough to be a good parent.  When I was a kid I didn't think so but now that I've got my own kids, I realize how much time and effort goes into it.  Discipline is incredibly important and I see so many parents that just don't do it because they want to be "friends" with their kids.  So it's hard to make a judgement on a story like this when you see parents who claim they're trying.

A couple from Staten Island tried to scare their daughter into behaving by telling her that they were going to take her to the police station and leave her there.  They insist they were never really going to leave her at the station but only told her that so that she would begin to behave.

The police didn't see it that way.  They cited the couple with trying to abandon their kid at the police station and they were arrested on child endangerment.

Check out the story  here.   What do you think?  Was it a bit of creative parenting?  Or was it just flat out abuse?