My father used to do this to us all the time when ...

I agree 100%.

Her mistake was in getting caught and perhaps in driving too far off. Sounds like her 10 year old is kind of babyish. How come the 12 year old caught up but the 10 year old didn't?

I always taught my kids what to do in an emergency situation (how to get home, call for help and so on). Seems to me the biggest problem she faces now (after government stops supervising her) is teaching her kids to think!

When I grew up, the world was a much safer place than it is today.

I am sure you would never want to punish your child in a way that exposes them to predators and that unfortunately is what parents do when they use this type of punishment in most parts of our country, not just in the inner city but in the suburbs and rural areas, too.

In my town, a child on a bicycle in front of her apartment was struck by a drunk driver speeding through the complex and some people commented that it was her parents' fault for not supervising her despite the fact that other adults were out watching her.  I think they are crazy but the awful truth is that  in most places today, it is completely unsafe for children to be left alone by their parents. No responsible parent would do something like throwing their kids out of the car.

I also think that perhaps the mom habitually gives 'Orders' without following through, as so many parents do nowadays.

So, if her kids are used to her saying, 'Stop that, or...' only the 'or' never happens; then of course they are not going to be aware of the fact that she's reached her breaking point this time.

That is why it's so important to say what you mean and mean what you say!

If she had been the type of parent who consistently followed through, the girls damn well would have stopped fighting because they would have known that they would have ended up on the street - just as they ultimately did!

 The law has taken the tools of discipline (the paddle and the belt) away from the parents. I know someone whose kids threaten to cry child abuse anytime they don't get their way. The Dr. Spock disciples are going to rue their stupid ideas about raising children. Spare the rod, spoil the child.

I hope you are using irony to make your point, Cheryl,  although there are people who quote the passage you mention to advocate for the execution of rebellious teens.

The passage you refer to from Deuteronomy says:  "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear."

Obviously a son who is a glutton and drunkard is not 10 or 12 years old. But

I think anyone who believes in taking this literally would be far more comfortable living someplace like Iran, not in a nation founded on the separation of church and state.