The mum who was arrested for making her kids walk to school.

If you had to catch a bus to school everyday when you were growing up, you would have understood how very important it was to be at your stop on time.

Because if you missed the said bus, you would have had to face the wrath of your mum or dad, who would have inevitably said something to the effect of, “If you miss that bus one more time, you will have to walk to school.”

Which would never really happen… right?

Well one mum, in America, has followed through with that threat. And now she’s been charged with child neglect.

Lisa Marie Palmer reportedly made her daughters, along with their family dog, no less, walk the 4km route to their school.

And this week, in This Glorious Mess, Holly Wainwright and Andrew Daddo discuss whether she should be heralded as a hero, or a villain.

You can hear a snippet of their conversation below. (Post continues after audio.)

“She wasn’t just going to set them out in the world… the kids are 10 and 11, and the mum made them walk to school, behind her car, so she drove reallllly slowly in the left hand lane, and they were walked behind her.

“She got arrested because, and this is one of my favourite parts of this story, she held up all the traffic on that road. I’m sure this story is terrible, but it kind of makes me laugh,” Holly says.

“Loved it. Loved it. Like it is an old fashioned thing, ‘I swear to god, one more word and you’re gonna walk home.’ I mean who hasn’t been dumped out of the car and told to walk home?” Andrew says.

Well, Holly hasn’t. But she is familiar with making threats to her children that she doesn’t really want to carry through.

“You know how we talk all the time about parent’s never make a threat that you won’t carry through. I make threats I can’t carry through all the time, but I reckon this mum was like ‘if you miss that bus again, you are walking,’ and then was like ‘oh no, I’ve got to follow through, but I’m not just going to kick them out of the house, so what am I going to do? Oh my god, I’m going to have to drive…'” Holly says.

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We don’t know what to think of it all, really. But Andrew reckons that the mother shouldn’t be in trouble at all, rather, we should be celebrating.

“Based on what we do know of the story, she should be a poster girl for health, for following through as a parent, and also for getting the kids moving in the fresh air,”

You can hear below the full episode of This Glorious Mess, including two parents who sold their family home to move to Mexico with their two daughters, as well as the end of this half-time sport ritual. You can find all of our podcasts on the Mamamia podcast app, on iTunes or via your favourite podcast app.