Sky News presenter Colin Brazier found a quick and simple way by throwing his daughter’s smartphone off a balcony into a field. The father of six, who has five daughters, reached boiling point this week after one was spending too much time on Instagram, the social networking site beloved of teenagers. Taking matters into his own hands, Brazier posted a hilarious picture on Twitter with the caption: “Somewhere in the field, off this balcony, is my teenage daughter’s recently-hurled smartphone.
“I’m sure a more constructive dialogue was possible, but sometimes following up on a parental threat simply has its own immutable logic.”
He spared the youngster further embarrassment by refusing to identify which daughter had been admonished, only revealing that drastic action had been taken at the family home in Salisbury,Wilts.
But he quickly received a flood of support from similarly dumbfounded parents.
Lukwesa Burak said: “I hear you Colin – I’ve smashed two with the pestle and mortar after throwing on tiled kitchen floor wasn’t effective enough.
“We’ve now found a happy medium with a Nokia – no social media.” Another parent posted: “If you are going to make threats you have to follow them through.”
Brazier, 50, is bringing up children Edith, Katherine, Agnes, Constance, Gwendolyn and John-jo as a single parent after the death of his wife, Jo, from breast cancer last year aged 55.
He had previously told how his TV news editor wife was “like the still centre of calm surrounded by swirling eddies of emotion”.
Before her death, eldest child Edith, 19, promised her mother she would “look after” her younger siblings.
She gave up her place at university, but has since returned to Royal Holloway in London to continue her studies.