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Four Oregon parents Katie and Dustin Maletic went viral on social media The moment of raising a child It sparked some debate.
Dustin’s 9-year-old son-in-law, Tommy, told his mother to “cool,” he was instructed to do some push-ups and 60 squats as a form of discipline.
Training met in a father-son conversation about the tone he should talk to with his mother. Tommy was attentive and apologized to her mom.
stepdad punishes boy’s rudeness with push-ups and squats in viral video
Dustin Malecic, a prison corrections officer, concluded his confrontation with the embrace, saying, “I love you.”
Some praised his stepfather for his approach, but others were worried about using it motion As a form of punishment.
Dr. Dyan Hes, pediatrician and medical director at Highline Modern Medicine in New York, responded to the way in the field in an interview with Fox News Digital, calling it “silly punishment.”
“Especially if you’ve done 60 squats before. Young spare penetration child“Anyway, this is still a form of corporal punishment. Movement should evoke a positive connotation rather than a negative connotation.”
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Educational psychologist and parenting expert Dr. Michelle Bolva shared a different perspective, saying that her stepfather responded calmly and approached the “right way” by enforcing punishments that she thought were familiar to her children.
The California-based expert was more concerned about how posting videos online could affect children emotionally and inspire “public shame.”
In the viral video, the 9-year-old was told to do push-ups to “cool” his mother. (Instagram/@RaisingMaletich)
In an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital, the Maleticch family was used by fitness as a way of teaching self-control rather than as a punishment for children; Emotional regulation. (See the video at the top of the article.)
“I never like to say, ‘We’re punishing you’ because you’re in the wrong,” Katie Maletic said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, let’s help you understand what’s going on, better self-control and better outlets.”
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“We are trying to correlate the outcome with inappropriate behavior. By doing that, if you demonstrate that you are unable to control your behavior, we can do so. Physical Activitiesyou are showing yourself that you are in control of your actions. ”
“There’s a lot of things that make me irritate,” he continued. “I can’t assault my boss. I can’t scream at anyone. I can’t throw a tantrum. That’s not the way the world works.”
Katie and Dustin Maleticch joined Fox News Digital on August 13, 2025 for an in-camera interview. (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)
The couple shared that their 13-year-old eldest son chose to walk or jog if he felt his emotions were out of control before talking to his parents.
“[Our daughter] “When I’m in a bad mood, I don’t want to have a conversation with you,” but when she goes on a jog on the treadmill, she then says that she’s more central so that she can better communicate her feelings,” Katie Malecic said.
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“Our kids love to work out, because they don’t do that every day, but it’s a central part of our home.”
Fitness, she said, is a “positive bonding experience” for Malecic. “They feel better and then they’ll make it out loud… They’re happy, they’re not that annoyed, so for us, we see it as a victory.”
They shared that fitness is seen as a “positive bonding experience” for Malecic people. (Photo by Seaira Skinner)
This approach to discipline can vary from child to situation. This is shared by Maletic, including “intention and intuition.”
“The biggest thing is learning to respond as a parent, not as a response,” Katie said.
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The couple’s approach to parenting is to “we don’t raise children, we raise adults.”
“I think it’s more important to focus on how our kids can handle life when they’re adults than to understand how to make them happy and comfortable right now,” Katie said.
The approach to raising a couple is to “we are not raising children, we are raising adults.” (Photo by Seaira Skinner)
For other parents, Katie noted that physical activity “works really well” when it continues to “connect and conversation.”
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“That’s a really important part of this,” she said. “Then you need to explain it to them and make sure there’s an emotional connection between the problem and the outcome.”
The couple also responded to the backlash they received after posting the video and said they asked their son for consent before sharing it. He responded in hoping it would do so It’s going viral.
