Posted on 12/22/2009 4:04:12 AM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
COLUMBIA, Tenn. -- A woman in Columbia has been charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse. According to authorities, one of Adrienne Witherspoon's children confided in the resource officer at E.A. Cox Middle School. That child and a sibling were found to have bruises on their chests, backs and arms. Investigators believe Witherspoon used a belt to spank the two. Those children and a 5-year-old sibling are now in state custody.
I got the belt plenty of times but that is just ridiculous
bruises on their chests, backs and armsThat's not "spanking".
Got to know when to stop.
not to mention extension cords, fly swatters and the occasional ping pong paddle. Ahh the memories!
I went to military school, they used a fraternity paddle that would lift you off the ground. If you whimpered or shed one tear the other cadets would kick your butt later. We never thought about complaining, we had fair advance warning what the rules were. Sometimes it was just worth a few licks, LOL! I know I didn’t live in fear of it.
My mom’s paddle of choice was the plastic egg flipper with holes in it. We all ran for cover when we heard the kitchen drawer open. Dad kept a belt hanging on a nail and we all kept a close eye on that belt but I don’t remember ever having it used on me. All Dad had to do was look at it. With five kids all two years apart you have to have some means of control. :-) We didn’t push Dad but Mom was an easy target until the egg flipper came out.
Mom’s favorite threat when I was a kid: “I’m gonna take my shoe off!” LOL!
You left out wooden spoons. I have no problem with a parent disciplining their children but that seemed excessive. As a parent I can honestly say I've never hit my child but that does not mean I never have disciplined him. I find the most effective discipline is denying things that he enjoys, such as time on the playstation, laptop, cellphone, or time with his friends. Those things work wonders.
Same here, but not to the extent where I wound up with bruising...
Chest, back, and arms? That is abuse.
Spanking means discipline applied to the backside, a nicely padded region that stings, but doesn’t bruise and doesn’t do actual physical damage.
My mom, a genuine WV hillbilly, would just set her eye on you and say,
"Go cut me a switch!"
I made my mother so mad once that she picked up a slot car track and got me with it.
Bruising a kid with a hand or object is child abuse, plain and simple.
Using a spanking is ok as a form of disipline, but not leaving bruises.
The woman is an idiot.
You have to marvel at the psychology. Taking your child’s favorite toy and smacking him with it. I can just imagine my mother chasing me around the house with a playstation controller cord :D
Being a 70s kid we got swatted with Hot Wheels track. About a yard long and flexible with some hard edges it definitely got our attention.
Ooooh, I bet that smarted. :-) Actually, we were harder on each other than our parents were on us. Most of the time that the paddle came into play was to break up fights. We were well behaved in public but we were hard on each other at home at times. We all eventually outgrew it.
I can honestly say now, looking back, we didn’t get it unless we absolutely, positively needed it. People are worried about bruises and scars now. Back when I was child we considered bloody lips, cuts, scrapes and bruises an average play day. We were a hell of a lot meaner to each other than our parents were.
Exactly! Apparently, the only place they did not have bruises was on their buttocks, where a “spanking” would be applied.
The headline writer and reporter are clearly trying to lump spanking in with child abuse (which is what happened here), in order to discredit spanking.
It is similar to the way the MSM refers to illegal aliens who invade our country, break our laws and wreak havoc on our communities as immigrants or laborers.
What next, calling crack, meth and heroin dealers, “pharmacists”?
Being a wayward child,inventive in my mischief, I was spanked with some regularity. A “Wait till your Father gets home” deal. First I got to dread it; then the reasonable explanation why it was coming, by the end of which I am thinking “OK, do it already!”. And this is in the day of thin belts and welts on the butt.
Otra vez, a teacher slapped me in the face, hard. Mother raised enough cain, got her fired. The term gluteus maximus aptly describes the juvenile butt; an appropriate place for such discipline. I didn’t like spanking, but retrospect, I love my parents, they were right, and it did way more good than passing harm.
Corporal punishment; no problem, it does get a child’s attention. Arms, chest and such, that crosses the line.
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