As we sat down for breakfast, I made the comment, “I’m glad we live in the middle of nowhere, relatively speaking.” 

My kids had no idea what I was talking about, and then I explained about the Baltimore riots.

As I watched the burnings and the chaos that ensued after the burial of Freddie Gray, the man who died in Baltimore police custody, I was outraged and saddened by the actions of people.

So many questions went through my mind as I watched an entire police department retreat while being pelted with rocks.

Why would they allow such violence to go on without consequence? Why would they just stand there and watch the burning and looting? Why would a bunch of unruly people be allowed to break the law in modern-day America while the police looked on?

And then along came Toya Graham. You know her?

The mom who took matters into her own hands?

The mom who stood next to the line of police only to make eye contact with her son, who had a rock in his hand ready to chuck it at the officers?

You know, the mom who bravely stepped off the curb and into the middle of the chaos to grab her son and knock some sense into him?

]Who literally chased him all the way home?

You know – the Mom of the Year?

A single mother of six kids, Toya Graham has an obvious uphill climb in life. Like the rest of us, I’m sure she has made some mistakes in life but to take matters into her own hands with her own son was the right thing to do, hands down.

This mom not only wanted to protect her son, she wanted him to respect authority. She saw him being swept into the emotion of the day and put a screeching halt to it.

She knows the potential of her young son and while he has not been perfect, he has a chance to make something of himself, and in her mercy she picked him up off the back streets and put him on the right path.

In one episode caught on camera this 40-second video has made an impact on a nation.

Suddenly the matriarchs of America are rising up and applauding, while evaluating their own motherhood skills and rethinking their passive approach to parenting.

And if the leadership in the city of Baltimore didn’t take notice of a mom leading the charge in stopping the riots in their own city, they are as incompetent as the orders they gave to their police department to stand down.

Thank you, Toya Graham, for showing a nation that being a parent isn’t easy, that sometimes we have to be tougher than we want to be and demonstrating the simple principle of those you love, you discipline. No. Matter. What.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.