Texas Mother Given 5 Years Probation for Spanking Her Daughter

Thanks for the info. This changes everything.

I am still an advocate of parental spanking, but not abuse. This sounds like abuse.

 

She PLEADED GUILTY to Injury to a Child. If she hadn't crossed the line to abuse, she shouldn't have pleaded guilty. I'm not the one calling her a child abuser; she is a self-declared abuser. If this was just a spanking, she should have gone to trial. No reasonable jury would convict her for a mere spanking.

 

You may well be entirely correct; however, there may be more to this than what we are seeing. Sometimes a person pleads guilty to avoid jail. The District Attorney will offer a deal that evolves no jail time as opposed to going to trial. This same DA will assure you that if you are found guilty you will definitely do time in prison. This makes getting a guilty person to confess easier than it might seem.

 

I would imagine the judge's quote is probably taken out of context, as well, as the media tends to do in these kinds of emotional cases. Don't know that for sure, but I have a feeling this might be the case.

In any event, it was "injury to a child" a not a tap on the behind.

 

I love this sort of broken logic. Since statistics have shown that spanking is being used less and less today (as compared to the 1950's), and that the numbers of parents who use it as a disciplinary tool has dropped over time, shouldn't we see some pretty encouraging results according to your logic? For instance, since less children are being spanked, shouldn't we be seeing less violent children who have learned to respect others? Shouldn't we be seeing parents more respected because the children have learned to respect them more? Shouldn't our school systems, which have all but dropped corporal punishment, be bastions for good behavior and a lack of violence?

In other words, if your argument had any logic to it at all, wouldn't it be self-evident? Shouldn't we be able to see the fruits of your proposition? The results have said the opposite.

The more schools have gone away from traditional discipline, the more difficult our classrooms are to manage. The more that parents buy into the deception that spanking is abuse, the more we are seeing difficulties in the home. Again, if this isn't the case, where are the positive results we should be seeing by now?

Perhaps spanking is antiquated, but atleast it has proven to work!

 

There are lots of things antiquated.

This could not be more false nor childish.

There are many Christian parents that I know that have told me that spanking is needed and necessary and children who are never spanked are more likely to be uncontrollable and spoiled.

 

The reason schools don't use corporal punishment anymore is because it doesn't work; not really. There may be fewer kids being spanked these days, but there are still a huge number of children who get the crap beat out of them on a regular basis. Those are the ones with the behavior problems. I see that in my own classroom every day.

It's not the spanking that does the trick, it's parents who love and care for their children enough to teach and show them in a humane and loving way how they're expected to act.

 

Wrong. The reason schools don't use corporal punishment is due to the modern litigious society we live in coupled with the extreme political correctness and liberalness that has run rampant.

You also present a false dichotomy between spanking and loving your child. I love my child...hence the reason I spank....and they know this.

 

I assume that you fel the Lord was wrong when He gave caporial punishment?
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes
Foolishness [is] bound in the heart of a child; [but] the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

 

You work in public schools? I do. I see what's going on. I didn't present a "false dichotomy." I'm not saying parents who love their children don't spank them. My parents spanked me and, even though they were excessive with me, I know they still loved me.

The families I'm talking about are the ones that will beat the hell out of their poor children and do it for any reason at all. Usually, those kids are the ones that are behavior problems. And they usually only will behave out of fear, which isn't the goal of true discipline.

This passage says to discipline your children, not hit them. It's bad interpretation to say otherwise.

 

Those kids are probably poorly behaved because they haven't been disciplined at all, spanking or no spanking.

And I'm sure your daughter would say that. So would I at her age. I would have said it because it's what I had been taught to say. I'm sure that, with loving and caring discipline besides spanking, I would have been much better off.

 

The "rod" refers to a branch or stick. That verse is a reference to corporal punishment or "spanking" not just some minimal form of discipline.

 

Spanking works with some kids, with others it doesn't.

I've no problem with a kid who NEEDS it getting spanked or switched.

I just think it's a rare need in most older kids.

But at two? That's about the ideal time if a parent uses a simple spanking. (not switching a two year old, that should be reserved for older kids who get into major trouble that would lead to criminal charges were they older and IMO should be PUBLIC)
A two-year old doesn't have a lot of reasoning skills. A fit, reaching out for something unsafe like a hot burner, a woodstove, trying to pull on a car door from the car seat, etc., a spank will get their immediate attention and associate a negative feeling with that type of action.

Parents are afraid to do ANYTHING because it's ALL being looked at as abuse. Spanking is physical abuse. Putting a kid in the corner is abuse because you're embarrassing them. Anything that makes them feel uncomfortable physically or emotionally is being made out to be abuse. Well, how do you stop a kid from misbehaving if you can't make them physically or emotionally uncomfortable after they misbehave?

You can't. And the result is obvious when you look around at how so many kids act and the things they do. It's disgusting.

Parents should have the freedom to raise their kids the way they see fit. No child is the same. What is abuse for one child is not abuse for another because kids are individuals and learn things in different ways. True, there are some things that should always be considered abusive. But...for the most part, people need to step back and let parents raise their kids how they see fit, not by some crazy fluid rule system that is supposed to fit all families at whatever point in time the rules are laid down...until they change yet again. It's just stupid. You can't put 'em in a corner in this state. You can't spank 'em in this state. You can use a switch in this state but not in that one. And the kids SEE this confusion and know how to use the state's power against the parents.

Who's really in control of families? The kids and government officials. And the results are disastrous.

Wish the majority would wake up and smell the coffee. I wonder how many more school shootings, violence in schools and on the streets, how much more criminal acts by young kids it's going to take before people get a clue? Probably will never happen. What a shame. Our kids are being failed by the very system set up to protect them.

 

So? Does that make you qualified to make the statements you did?

Is this the crux of the matter...your parents were excessive so you are equating all parents with being so? You also said it's not spanking that does the trick, it's loving your children. That is indeed a false dichotomy as it's not an "either / or" proposition. Spanking is the tool through which we discipline and conversely show our children love in a biblical manner.

I also do not spank every chance I get. They know when they lie to me, put their hands on others or disrespect either of us they will be spanked. Removing toys, privileges and freedom is also effective given each circumstance.

That's not corporal punishment, that is abuse. Apples and oranges.

 

What Gina said.

I have one kid that you could beat all day and not change his behavior. I have three others that all I had to do was reach for the switch.

Today they are all teens and truly this is my favorite time. Of course by now, I have "the LOOK" down pat and find I rarely have to discipline at all. I'm of the opinion that if you tame them at 5 you won't have to at 15.