Mother staged a fake arrest for her five year old son  

While on the plus side it taught her children that it is bad to play with matches, this has seriously probably forever scarred her child and is a major event that will dictate his personality in the future. It was an over the top scare tactic that I personally believe was going too far. It probably traumatized the poor little boy.

I guess I can kind of understand how the mother feels. Especially if the child has continuously done this after her telling him to stop and disciplining him in other ways. I know from personal experiences that children can be extremely hard headed and downright disobedient brats. I just wish that it did not have to go to that extent. A mock arrest does seem a bit overdramatic and could be a waste of taxpayers' money, however because I don't know the kid and his mother, I cannot condemn her completely.

I think children can be taught especially if a child is around 3-5 years old because that's the age of their training when they will be able to remember a lot of things that will make them a better person. I dont think its right that the mother faked the arrest cause it would give the kid some sort of trauma that's not going to help him in the future. I think it would have been best if the mom just talked to that kid and explained to the kid why playing with matches was not good.

If this was the only way to get the message through to her child then she managed a very creative and innovative punishment. To many parents do not seem to care when their child is behaving in a manner that is harmful to themselves and others. At 5 years old I sincerely doubt the child could be traumatized by this, more that he had it made clear to him in a manner that he could not miss that playing with matches is wrong and has severe consequences. It was far better (in my opinion) for her to stage a fake arrest of her child then for the child to have injured himself or others through the use of the matches.

That being said, she seriously needs to learn how to hide the matches from her kid.