'If you don’t teach your kids respect, somebody else will'

Shannon Cooper took to social media to share that she had poured water over the child after he’d done the same to her cat.

She shared the story on X along with pictures of the cat whose fur is dripping wet.

Her post read: “My 10-year-old neighbour just threw a cup of water over my cat who was sitting on the fence minding his own business and laughed so I threw a basin of water over him from the window and now his dad is at my door going mental, but I don’t see the problem, don’t touch my cat.”

Commenters were divided over the punishment with many praising Cooper saying it’s only water ‘they will survive’.

One person replied: “Someone messes with my cat, they will be dealing with me.”

Another wrote: “Just goes to show you that if you don’t teach your kids respect, somebody else will!”

“Sounds almost like you continued the game. All fair in my book. Actually, a good lesson for the kid. Actions have consequences. Some more severe than others.”

But other users condemned Cooper’s actions saying that she should have let the child’s parents handle the situation themselves.

One user said: “It’s very childish how you handled it, you should have told the parents first so that they could punish their own kid.”

Another slammed Cooper: “The child is still growing and understanding the consequences. How could a fully developed adult act like a 10-year-old who is still learning?”

Following the backlash, Copper again took to social media to add context to the situation stating that her and her neighbours are now friends.

“People are so mad over this. The kid and his dad were laughing about it today, we are friends (also might I add the dad never knew what his son [had] done which is why he was mad, to begin with), also the kid is 13, he really looks 10.”