Posted on 09/12/2014 7:42:44 PM PDT by xzins
An arrest warrant was issued Friday in Texas for Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson after he was indicted on a child abuse charge for using a branch to spank his son. He won't play in Sunday's game against the New England Patriots.
The Vikings said they had deactivated Peterson for Sunday's game Friday evening, just after his lawyer and the Montgomery County sheriff's office confirmed he was
Read Adrian Peterson's lawyer Rusty Hardin's statement in full below:
Adrian Peterson has been informed that he was indicted by a grand jury in Montgomery County, Texas for Injury to a Child. The charged conduct involves using a switch to spank his son. This indictment follows Adrian’s full cooperation with authorities who have been looking into this matter. Adrian is a loving father who used his judgment as a parent to discipline his son. He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in east Texas. Adrian has never hidden from what happened. He has cooperated fully with authorities and voluntarily testified before the grand jury for several hours. Adrian will address the charges with the same respect and responsiveness he has brought to this inquiry from its beginning. It is important to remember that Adrian never intended to harm his son and deeply regrets the unintentional injury.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcwashington.com ...
“I say failure to be *willing* to use the ‘hit’ is indeed the same.”
I'd be more inclined to agree with that. I'm a little iffy, in light of my own experiences, but we actually started out with that. Our kids knew that the “nuclear option” was not off the table.
We just never needed it.
We found that the secrets to discipline included:
1) Creating conditions that didn't work against our disciplinary and general child-rearing efforts and goals. So, that's why we restricted TV, had no video games, etc. It also was part of the reason for homeschooling for primary school.
2) Making clear what the offense was, why it was an offense, and making clear what were expected ranges of punishment. We tried to do a lot of this BEFORE an offense was committed.
3) Consistency in application of punishment. An important part of this was my wife and I were always on the same page. Neither of my sons ever SUCCESSFULLY played one of us against the other, not they never tried, LOL.
4) Application of mercy when true remorse was demonstrated.
5) General explanation of the source of our authority to govern our children: God made us your parents, and therefore, we have the right and the obligation to discipline you, including up to and including a good spanking.
And most importantly 6) Much, much prayer. Many times daily.
sitetest
Amen.
“It sounds to me like you’re looking at a side of life that you are unfamiliar with.”
Actually, my friend, I'm looking at a side of life with which I'm all too familiar. My parents were too thoroughly modern to use a tree branch. My parents also differed in how they administered corporal punishment.
My father, even if angry, was usually quite controlled, and hit us in ways that naturally limited the physical impact. A belt to the clothed buttocks. A simple slap across the face. That pretty much sums it up.
My mother was often an out-of-control nutjob who would beat her children with any weapon at hand. Sticks, hair brushes, wooden hangars, her hands, her feet (yes, she would sometimes kick), even a baseball bat, once, though I intervened and would not allow her to hit my sister with it.
I received the least of these things from either of my parents, but even I became a secretive, closed-in person unwilling to share my faults or failings with my parents for fear of a good beating. And I saw the permanent psychological damage that this sort of physical abuse did to my oldest brother and my sister. I wouldn't treat a rabid dog the way my mother treated them. It was wrong, immoral, and should have sent her to jail for a bit of heel-cooling. But in that day, it wasn't considered child abuse. If the kid didn't wind up in the emergency room, it wasn't abuse. As they say in the NBA, no autopsy, no foul.
Like I said, if you can't avoid general injuries across a child's body when you punish him, you're probably doing it wrong. And in this case, there is a prima facie case to be made for criminal child abuse. I'm more than willing to see what evidence is actually brought to light before I make a final decision as to guilt or innocence, and if guilty, and appropriate sentence.
But at the very least, I'd suggest at least temporary termination of parental rights.
sitetest
Assuming the whipping was moderate correction administered to the buttocks this state action is way out of line. The people now administering our affairs lack intelligent judgement. Hysteria rules.
LOL.
Vigil for Adrian Peterson’s son sheds light on domestic abuse
Oct 13, 2013
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/23678531/vigil-for-adrian-petersons-son-to-shed-light-on-domestic-abuse
Not this son...one of the 7 other kids.
Saw the pics. Skin was broken. Not life threatening. Adrian made his point clear.
I am guessing the ex went ballistic and her act before the cops is what convinced them to file charges.
Hard to criticize Adrian over this. What did the child do to deserve the whipping? Depending on the offense, punishment needs to ensure the child understands that that behavior is not tolerated.
Who knows. Adrian may have saved a young black man from charging an officer with a loaded hand gun...
So, Solomon didn't know what the word "rod" meant?
Proverbs 23:13 - Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
It seems you have confused the purpose of a rod with that of a staff. A shepherd's staff is used to guide and direct sheep with the rod serving as a tool of discipline.
I wouldn't disagree with you that rod could refer to God's Word depending on context but it is not a universal. The clear context of Proverbs is the rod as an instrument of discipline - corporal discipline which may be used on children who disobey. Is corporal punishment mandated? I don't see that in the verses but it is clearly permitted.
I think most laugh and chat about the paddlings they got today.....though painful at the moment ...they did accomplish the end result.
Look here where we’re all laughing and sharing about what was used for punishment...belts, paddles, or a good blistering with a firm hand.
I never thought I was abused... my kids haven’t either...and i doubt ever there’s nothing better for a kid out of control then a firm and loving hand....which includes a licking from time to time when warrented.
How are you now? Do you have a relationship with your mom, or has she already passed on?
I agree with word warrior bob that 4 years old is too young for this severe a punishment and should have mitigated Peterson’s behavior. However, and this is repeating what I’ve been saying all along, this is not a prison-level offense. Nor do I think it was premeditated; I think it was spur of the moment.
Everything says to me that this is at a family intervention level and not at the level of imprisonment.
I'M fine. I didn't take the brunt of the abuse. The oldest and the youngest of us did. My other brother and myself, in the middle, saw all the hurt and damage, but mostly escaped from being victims.
My older brother is dead, now, dead at 62. He was married and divorced three times (I wonder why he always picked such flawed, mean, abusive women??), flunked out of community college, tried many different careers, never really achieving stability or happiness, had significant health problems, drank hard in his youth and smoked hard till he died, and threw away his faith. A couple of bankruptcies along the way. Not a pleasant or easy life. His kids turned out nearly as badly as he did.
My younger sister had a failed marriage, she was separated the last five or so years of her husband's life. She flunked out of college, has led a wretched life, her husband was physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive (I wonder where she learned to tolerate that??). Throw in a bankruptcy or two, foreclosure & homelessness, episodic severe mental illness, and two sons who are even worse off than she is.
Both my parents are dead. My own relationship with my mother was strained, in that her abusive “discipline” emanated from a personality that just wasn't very nice. To go along with the beatings, she also had an acid tongue. I remember one time, after I was married, going over to my parents to help them move furniture around.
The conversation meandered until she said, “Face it, sitetest, you're just a parasite.” I said, “Mom, the least you could do would be to wait until I'd moved the furniture before you insulted me.”
But I stayed and moved the furniture. Maybe I was “enabling” her by not telling her off and leaving, LOL.
She had her good points, I guess. She did love her family in spite of it all, and she was very devout and helped pass on her faith to me, for which I will be forever grateful. I pray for her and my father every day.
But my older brother and my sister had an extremely poor relationship with my mother until she died. For years, my older brother wouldn't even talk to her, and would tell my father to divorce her. He was extremely bitter for the treatment he received at her hands.
I really don't believe in beating kids. It doesn't seem to produce happy, good, or decent people. The few times I was beaten only made me fearful and closed-in, and alienated from my parents. I never, ever discussed any of my problems with my parents. They were untrustworthy, especially my mother.
Conversely, when my sons were young, sometimes when they did something wrong, they'd come confess it to me or their mother, and even recommend a punishment, which was usually more punitive than anything we'd actually impose. Both my son are conscientious men of God, striving to do His will.
I've told you about my sons in different contexts, here. If we did spare the rod, apparently, we did not spoil the child. I could not ask for better sons.
You can have a close, effective relationship with your kids if you don't beat them bloody.
sitetest
Not likely, Texas prosecutors have a history of submitting to 2, 3 or even 4 grand juries to get an indictment. They get to present their case without rebuttal, so they hone their presentation until they are presenting only the most effective stuff. Then it falls apart at trial when all submisable evidence is presented and rebuttal allowed.
I would bet that now that this prosecutor has his high profile indictment, there will be a quiet plea deal down the road.
Yeah cant disagree with that, appears over the top in the pics.
....”Yeah cant disagree with that, appears over the top in the pics”....
Yep.
You are confusing punishment with consequences. There are good and bad consequences to behavior. Military behavior is some of the worst and outside of constant vigilance unit discipline slackens.
Of that you are correct. Parental impatience isn't an excuse to hit a child.
No need to open the prisons. Punishment is so effective they’re simply revolving doors with prisoners returning year after year.
Totally true. Keep in mind that correction isn't hitting.
For all of human society, getting spanked for failure is a natural consequence.
Not for all of human society is spanking acceptable. Nor is spanking a natural consequence of any behavior. You've made it your habit. It isn't a natural consequence. Telling a child not to touch a hot stove is correction. Letting that same child, under circumstances that will not end up with any long term or permanent harm, touch the stove and get burned is a consequence. I've hit no one and taught two lessons.
Lesson 1: I am to be obeyed because I love you, want to protect you and am wiser/more experienced and will bring that knowledge to our relationship for your sole benefit.
Lesson 2: There are real consequences to disobedience.
No spanking, whipping or beating needed and the lesson is learned without putting any enmity between you and the child.
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