TASHA HENDERSON UPDATE

This is the way news moves:

•On Nov. 5, Tasha Henderson made her 14-year-old daughter stand on a street corner in Edmond, Okla., after the girl brought home bad grades. Mom promised she would do this, and when her daughter failed to do homework and bring up her marks, Tasha Henderson felt she had no other choice (Daughter Coretha, by the way, blamed lying teachers for the bad grades).

•On Nov. 6, the Oklahoman published a story and we brought you the link.

•This week, talk radio started discussing Henderson's unique parenting style.

•Wednesday, we noticed an appreciable uptick in visitors to CHATTER, largely through Google searches on Henderson that listed this site as No. 1.

The Associated Press has glommed onto the Henderson tale. Its story features a quote from a Tufts University "expert" on children:

Donald Wertlieb, a professor of child development at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University, warned that such punishment could do extreme emotional damage. He said rewarding positive behavior is more effective.

"The trick is to catch them being good," he said.

Sorry, Doc, but the "trick" is to raise your children to believe that good grades are important, that blaming teachers isn't cool, that the only way to get ahead in this world is by busting your rear and making opportunities happen.

The world's sometimes harsh, very harsh. Coretha Henderson's punishment was harsh, too. But it seems to have made an impression; Tasha Henderson says she's seen "a turnaround" in her daughter's behavior since Nov. 5.