Dad Takes Over Teen’s Social Media, Posts Hilarious Selfies and Videos as Punishment

Courtesy of Larry Sumpter

When a 15-year-old girl’s dad discovered that she and her friends had helped to sneak boys into a sleepover party, he knew he had to opt for a unique “punishment” to teach their young daughter a life lesson on making better choices.

Madelynn Sumpter’s parents, Tawnya Ford and Larry Sumpter, then creatively offered their daughter to let go of her phone as punishment. However, instead of simply leaving her phoneless, they gave her an option. The teen could either choose to go one month without her cell or get the phone back after two weeks—with a catch, of course.

Courtesy of Larry Sumpter

For the two weeks of phone grounding, Madelynn’s parents said, she would have to relinquish complete control of her social media to mom and dad. Wanting her phone back faster, the teen picked the second option immediately, reported TODAY.

But as Madelynn quickly realized, the one-month phone grounding might have been the better option for her after all.

Courtesy of Larry Sumpter

For the 14-day phone ban, dad Sumpter posted hysterical TikToks and Instagram photos, sending out Snapchat messages to Madelynn’s friends and dancing in increasingly hilarious outfits and poses that made his daughter seriously rethink the punishment she'd willingly chosen.

Hopefully, this also helped her think about making better choices next time down the line.

“This is Maddi. Maddi got herself grounded,” the dad posted to Instagram, sharing a picture of their precious Madelynn sitting on her bed with her face in her hands.

Courtesy of Larry Sumpter

The post continued: “She had a choice of no phone for a month or no phone for 2 weeks and we have FULL control of her social media. She chose 2 weeks. So be on the look out for some amazing Instagram posts, snap chats and Tiktoks from her parents!!”

Then, from there, the parents went on a two-week whirlwind of comedy, sharing wholesome hilarious “unexpected” posts that made Madelynn second-guess her desire to break the rules in the future.

“Like, can we save the mother freakin turtles already?!” Sumpter captioned an Instagram photo, posing in a blonde wig and a tight T-shirt with the phrase “skip a straw, save a turtle” while dangling a reusable hydro-flask from his finger.

Courtesy of Larry Sumpter

It took Madelynn exactly one day to regret her decision, but by that point, it was too late, reported TODAY.

“After the first day, Madelynn was like, ‘I changed my mind, I choose the one month,’” mom Ford said. “Larry told her, ‘No. I’m too invested. I have too many ideas. We’re sticking with the two weeks.’ He’s loving it. I think he’s gonna make his own TikTok account when this over.”

Courtesy of Larry Sumpter

The videos and photos were hilarious for viewers of any age, but the creative dad put some extra care into making jokes that other parents from older generations will laugh at especially hard.

In one hilarious video, the doting dad parodies Instagram fitness models by giving his “tips and tricks” for getting ready to go out on a run. But he then throws his advice back to the nineties, explaining how to clip on your walkman so it doesn’t fall off, before adding that—as anyone who ever used a walkman remembers all too well—it’s probably going to keep falling off anyway.

Courtesy of Larry Sumpter

Eventually, as promised, Madelynn got her phone and her social media privileges back. The grateful teen then shared a throwback picture of herself as a toddler, captioning it, “I’m back sweeter than ever and ready to make good choices.”

The Sumpter parents made a point on upright bringing in their own unique way—their approach was trendy yet it did not miss the key life lesson of making better and wise choices.

Watch one of the hilarious videos below:

(Courtesy of Larry Sumpter)

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