Be a good kid, or you'll get the Benjamin Button special

A barber is offering free 'old man' haircuts for children whose parents think they've been naughty.

Russell Fredrick of A-1 Kutz styles the kids' hair to make it look like they're a balding little person, hence parents having to ask for the "Benjamin Button special".

The unfashionable haircut is apparently to teach unruly kids a lesson, and also, apparently, it works.

Fredrick's son Rushawn was given the haircut after getting bad grades and, he claims, his grades subsequently improved.

"Parents are at a loss," Fredrik, whose barbershop is in the Atlanta suburbs of Snellville, told the Washington Post.

"When you go to discipline kids these days, they can't necessarily use physical punishment the way parents did in the past, but they have to do something."

The ten-year-old boy featured in the photos on this page apparently returned a week later much wiser for the experience, and even referred to himself as "old man Jenkins".

Before everyone gets carried away, however, Douglas Gotel, a clinical social worker and therapist, cautioned there were "more effective ways to teach values".

"This is controversial and some people will look at it as draconian, but the mother is making an attempt the best way she can, with whatever parenting skills she has," he told the Post in reference to the mother of the ten-year-old boy.

"While this is not the most effective method, she is trying to hold her child accountable for an infraction while providing him with structure and discipline."

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