Every parent has to ride a fine line between being a friend to their child, and being a figure of authority. So when one father in Texas found out that his 17-year-old son was misbehaving in class, he began to ponder ways of teaching his son proper behavior in a manner which will stick.

Bradley Howard considered the traditional grounding or taking away his son’s cell phone, but then he got an idea which has left parents around the world giving him a standing ovation.

It turns out that Bradley’s son, who’s also named Brad, had been continually disruptive in class by talking too much, according to his teacher. That’s when Bradley got his idea to give him the following ultimatum.

“For some reason I said, ‘hey, if we get another call I’m going to show up in school and sit beside you in class,’” Brad Senior told Buzzfeed.

Unfortunately for Brad Junior, he – like most teens his age – didn’t take the threat seriously and continued to act up in his physics class, much to the chagrin of his teacher and fellow students. That’s when Mr. Howard got another call from the school and it was time to put his threat into motion.

It wasn’t exactly something that Mr. Howard wanted to do, but it’s something that he knew he needed to follow through on in order to teach his son his lesson about proper class behavior.

“Friday is my only day off, so my wife wakes me up and says, ‘Brad it’s time for you to go to school,’ I thought, ‘oh no what have I done?’” Mr. Howard said. 

That day when his son walked into his physics class, he was horrified to see his new seatmate.

“I didn’t even notice him until after I said hi to all my friends, but I was super shocked,” the teen confessed to Buzzfeed.

And of course, the other students in class were enjoying his embarrassment, which provided everyone with a few laughs.

Brad Junior’s sister, Mollie, got a thrill out of watching her brother squirm uncomfortably in class, and shared the story to social media.

“My dad told my brother if he got another call from the physics teacher he would go sit in his class…Dad got another call,” she wrote on her Twitter post.

My dad told my brother if he got another call from the physics teacher complaining he would go sit in his class..dad got another call ???? pic.twitter.com/zteNyXqhpy

— Molli Odum (@MolliOdum) May 5, 2017

Even mom Denise posted about her husband’s lesson to their son.

“The Howard men are famous,” Denise said. “We’ve had a great time with this, but more than anything we hope we don’t get any more calls about Bradley interrupting his physics class.”

Mr. Howard did say that the physics teacher was plenty grateful but added, “I pray it was a one time thing. I don’t think I’d ever do it again.”

Just like her husband, Denise is hopeful that this will be a one-time thing and Brad Senior won’t have to make regular appearances at his son’s physics class.

It is refreshing though to see parents taking an invested interest in their child’s education, as well as teaching them how to respect others, in such a creative way.

Well done Howard parents!