Posted on 06/30/2016 10:43:43 AM PDT by Ketill Frostbeard
An Arkansas woman was taken to jail for using a switch on her great-granddaughter, who she says was misbehaving.
Police say the girl has visible welts on her arm.
Norma Toussaint, 70, says she's not a bad person, but says she did pull a switch off her front hedges, stripped the leaves and used it to punish her 12-year-old great-granddaughter.
"I went back in the house and whooped her on her arm," Toussaint said.
Upset, the girl threatened to dial 911.
"I asked, I said, 'You want to call the police on me?' And she said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Call them then,'" Toussaint said.
At least four Hot Springs police officers showed up to the home Monday morning, KARK-TV reports. According to an incident report, Toussaint and the girl both told police it stemmed from the 12-year-old not throwing away food and talking back.
"I said, 'You gonna give me some lip by what you're not going to do?' They do this to you; they think they can do anything with it and get away with it," Toussaint said.
KARK reports hundreds of people disagree with the decision to arrest the grandmother, commenting on the Facebook post about the arrest. The most-liked comments include one who said, "She has learned that she can be a brat and the grandmother or any adult can't punish her!"
Another wrote, "I had a switch used on me so many times when I was young that it kept the trees pruned in the yard."
Yet another wrote, "Reading this article just angers me. She disciplined her granddaughter. That's it. This world is backwards."
Toussant said an officer told her she should have done it on the girl's bottom, but she says she's not going to do it again.
"I don't think I want to go to jail again, but she got to learn some kind of authority, you know what I'm saying?" Toussaint said.
The great-grandmother is now facing a felony domestic battery charge. A no-contact order was also filed against her. She has more than two dozen great grandchildren, a number of whom she has helped raise. The girl is staying with another relative in the meantime.
Know what you mean. We had a huge weeping willow where she could get the one of her choice.
Trying to guess which one was the smallest "big enough" switch was part of the agony.
Ever notice how polite most southern kids are?
Me too, my mom hit us on the legs, winters were better than summers.
Sorry, I didn’t realize that “I was just following orders” has now countermanded common human decency. I’ll keep that in mind, that there are some mindless robots on the job.
My mom used the wooden spoon. She called it the “cucciara”.
If you were of Italian extraction and grew up in the 1950s in The Bronx, Mom would have taken the wooden spaghetti sauce (gravy) spoon to you. Dad wasn’t that gentle.
I think a lot of us will be going to jail soon.
We said, “yes, Ma’am and no Ma’am And please Ma’am, my oldest son thought her name was Ma’am.
My grandson says Ma’am and Sir and it is amazing what preferential treatment he gets even from his college professors.
One thing about having to go get another switch is that often the rage was gone by the time you got a good one and the whippin’ wasn’t as bad.
What IS a “switch” anyway? I’ve heard that term used in connection with corporal punishment before but I’ve never been able to figure out what it is!
I know it’s not an electrical switch of some kind. It seems to be some kind of vegetation. But if it’s a branch from a tree why not call it a branch?
Help! I’m confused....
Should have made the girl get the switch herself...................
Often told my Dad while he was alive that today he’d be doing life without parole :)
What? No hickory switches in Texas?...................
What if the cops got there, heard the story, laughed at the 12 year old, and left the house without arresting the grandmother. Then an hour later the 12 year old is dead. I'm telling you that does happens in domestic scenarios (usually when a husband gets even angrier at his wife for calling the cops). So many departments have said "you MUST arrest" in domestic situations. If only to remove the abuser so they can settle down.
When my cousin’s kid threatened to call police if cousin spanked her, he said then be prepared to call the police twice; once when I spank you for lipping off and second for calling the police on me for spanking you.
Guess who won?
I have professionally dealt with multiple spanking/cops situations. Parents have to be ready to go to jail to discipline their children.
What IS a “switch” anyway?
not really. Mandated reporters would see the welts, ask, then report grannie to Child Protective Services. Thus the cops gave the advice, put it where it won’t be visible. If a mandated reporter is found out to Not report abuse, that person may lose their job! Cops are between a rock and a hard place. A mouthy 12 yo who calls police won’t hesitate to tell if the police do nothing.
LOL! A flyswatter was usually within the reach of my grandmother who threatened, but never used it. My grandfather made us go get the switch. We took our time. :).
Not in that part of SW Texas-Hickory trees are found a couple hundred miles or so to the East...
“We said, “yes, Ma’am and no Ma’am And please Ma’am, my oldest son thought her name was Ma’am.”
I thought my name was Sonof and my daddies name was Agun.
Ain’t hard to figure that’un out.
Everyone even slightly older than us was Sir or Ma’am.
No exceptions.
“My grandson says Ma’am and Sir and it is amazing what “preferential treatment he gets even from his college professors.”
Manners and reverence are repaid with manners and reverence.
As you treat others, so you are treated yourself.
Sadly too many people today think so little of themselves that they treat everyone as shabbily as they treat themselves.
“If a mandated reporter is found out to Not report abuse, that person may lose their job!”
Disciplining a kid isn’t abuse though, so I don’t see how that law would apply. Surely if a police officer has the discretion to decide whether someone is so imminently dangerous he needs to shoot them, they have the discretion to decide whether a child has been disciplined or abused.
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