Posted on 01/18/2008 9:02:08 AM PST by lesterleith
Sports are important, as they provide physical exercise and personal camaraderie, but to make a fetish of anything in life is always disastrous.
So it is with sports, as we see all too often in these days when Americans have so much time, money, and freedom (all of which are good things, of course, and are great blessings when used properly).
The Associated Press reports just such an incident this week:
"Upset that his 7-year-old son wouldn't wear a Green Bay Packers jersey during the team's playoff victory Saturday, a man restrained the boy for an hour with tape and taped the jersey onto him.
"Mathew Kowald was cited for disorderly conduct in connection with the incident with his son at their home in Pardeeville, Lt. Wayne Smith of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department said. Pardeeville is about 30 miles north of Madison.
"The 36-year-old Kowald was arrested Monday after his wife told authorities about the incident. Kowald was taken to the county jail and held until Wednesday, when he pleaded no contest, paid a fine of $186 and was released."
It was a stupid and silly thing to make a big deal over, to be sure. Yet there seems to me to be a bit more to this.
First, it seems to me that the boy should have worn the jersey even though he didn't want to, as parents do have authority over their children. Sure, the father was being asinine, but would hardly have killed the lad to wear the jersey. It's not as if it were made of tarantulas (at least according to the AP story).
In addition, defying a parent ought to earn some sort of punishment, even if the parent is wrong. Was this punishment the proper one? Probably not, as restraining a child physically should only be done in order to prevent the child from harming themself or others (or very temporarily in order to inflict corporal punishment in cases of severe importance).
Finally, should the government have been involved in this dispute? It seems to me that the answer is decidedly no. Undoubtedly the mother feared that if her husband would do this to their child, he might to anything, and it was important to call the cops to teach him a lesson.
Which is exactly what the father was trying to do to the child.
So the mother was wrong.
What about the arresting officers and the court?
The police certainly shouldn't have arrested him. This was a domestic disturbance, after all, and that is a category of police activity in which some real judgment ought to be used. The government really should stay out of people's homes, and when people call for help, the police should calm things down and get out, unless they perceive a serious danger to the individuals in the household.
In the current instance the latter appears definitely not to have been the case. The police officers should have calmed the situation, told the father to use better judgment in future, and told the family to be more reasonable with one another—and department procedures should establish that as the proper course of action.
Given that the father pleaded no contest, the judge appears to have been absolved of any responsibility in the matter. If it had gone to court, he would have had little choice but to deal with the situation and rebuke all parties involved for their asininity.
No one here acted wisely or correctly.
Posted by S. T. Karnick on January 18, 2008 10:37 AM
Seven year olds refuse to do a lot of things. Often is it irrational. My daughter when she was young refused to wear anything with polka dots.
The father overreacted. He sounds like he has bigger problems.
The only relevant question is whether the punishment constituted unlawful abuse rather than simply punishment. Certainly defying parents is grounds for punishment, but nothing is grounds for abuse. Obviously, the mother thought it was abuse ... who am I to question her without more information?
And why, pray tell, do you consider that to be irrational?
Sounds more like good taste to me.
;)
Momma has a nice little arrow in her quiver when it comes time to decide custody and child support after any potential divorce. I strongly suspect that is why the police were called in the first place.
LOL Good point.
Could be. Or perhaps she’s seen other things as well and has genuine cause for concern.
Too bad the spouses of some of the children who have been murdered recently by a parent didn’t get the police involved earlier.
I’d err on the side of caution for the child.
This whole thing sounds pretty sick to me. And I'm a lifelong Packer fan.
My two-year old son has thrown plenty of tantrums, and even in my darkest thoughts have I considered restraining him for an hour with tape.
Should the state have been involved? In an ideal world, no. The parents should have worked it out themselves, I think. But if the mother did think it was abusive, how can she prevent more abuse in the future other than by taking that action in this instance?
Maybe, but it's not as though this clown didn't hand her a perfect opportunity on a platter.
Go Packers!
I bet there was alcohol involved. Which trailer park was this at?
The family was laughing, joking, taking pictures. When the kid finally got tired of the joke, they released him.
Yes, not exactly a 'Leave it to Beaver'Family, but also not a vicious and sick warped mentality of the Joan Crawford type.
His favorite outfit was red and white striped shorts with an orange Hawaiian shirt, certainly a combo that would have caused Mr. Blackwell to cringe.
We let him wear it, figuring the hassle was not worth it.
Fortunately he grew out of such selections.
I am all for tying up children that are disobedient. And I have no philosophical objection to taping on a jersey. However, everyone needs to be careful not to over look an important fact in this story - this wasn't simply regular jersey, it was a Packer jersey. To be forced to wear the Packer label most certainly rises to the level of abuse.
Exactly,
if the child ends up dead in 6 months, she’ll be villified and ‘just as guilty for not protecting her child.’
Was the kid laughing too?
Or has Dad created a future John Wayne Gacy? ;)
That’s good to hear. Not reported in any of the stories I’ve seen.
The dad was stupid for doing it, however, what he did wasn’t illegal, it was having some fun at his son’s expense. All dads do that on occasion, and the kids generally get even eventually in some way.
On the other hand, the cops shouldn’t have been involved, nor the court, nor should the dad have been arrested.
I agree he was over reacting, but so did, apparently everyone else.
Agreed. I could see it if it were a Cowboys jersey-- but Packers?
A Packer fan and alcohol? You think? Good for the kid. He doesn't want to be a loser like his dad.
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