Free Republic

Germany Clashes with Pope over Child Discipline By Julio Severo (with Associated Press) Germany has on Friday rejected as “unacceptable” the pope’s comments that it’s OK to spank your children to discipline them, as long as their dignity is maintained. Francis made the remarks this week during his weekly general audience, which was devoted to the role of fathers in the family. Francis outlined the traits of a good father: one who forgives but is able to “correct with firmness” while not discouraging the child. “One time, I heard a father in a meeting with married couples say ‘I...

Pope Francis believes it is fine for parents to smack their children as punishment for bad behaviour. He made the remarks, which were condemned by campaigners for child protection, in front of thousands of people at his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square during a homily about the responsibilities of fatherhood. The Pope recalled a conversation he had had with a father, who told him that on occasion he hits his children if they have been naughty. The Pope, smiling and miming the action of slapping a child on the bottom, said: “One time, I heard a father say,...

“You can’t spank me, that’s abuse!” was the response of a Florida man’s 12-year-old daughter shortly after he grabbed the paddle (I’m taking some creative license with her quote, but I don’t think I’m far off). So this dad did what was, apparently, a relatively common thing in Florida: he called the police to come supervise the paddling, which ultimately passed their inspection. The incident that occurred on December, 29, 2014, has received an unusual amount of media attention. Perhaps it’s the unwelcome notion of government intervention in parental affairs, or the outrage that so many kids think consequences don’t...

The image of Adrian Peterson’s son’s legs has ignited a welcome cultural conversation. This is unusual. Most of these contrived “conversations” are efforts to take one headline and shoehorn it into a narrative that liberals want to advance, usually about race and racism. Those “conversations” are never truthful. But the discussion of a four-year-old boy’s wounds has elicited some brutally honest commentary. Writing on CNN.com, Steven Holmes blasted what he regards as excessive tolerance for spanking and child abuse in the black community. He dispatches the “I was whipped and I turned out all right” excuse. Holmes cites the abundant...

FReep This Poll! Do You Think It’s OK for Parents to Spank Their Children? YES NO Note: Go to the U-T San Diego link provided. On the U-T San Diego homepage scroll down a bit until you see the poll in the center column. Vote your choice.

So the Adrian Peterson story has brought "child abuse" into the limelight. Child abuse is horrible. Reprehensible. But do you REALLY consider mere spanking to be "child abuse"? Watch the video and comment below. Also, my dad spanked me.

Is Adrian Peterson a child abuser?  He says he’s not. I am not a perfect son. I am not a perfect husband. I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser. I am someone that disciplined his child and did not intend to cause him any injury. No one can understand the hurt that I feel for my son and for the harm I caused him. My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day. What did Peterson do?  He told his four...

Barkley told CBS’s Jim Rome that if tough standards were applied, that would lead to a lot of black parents potentially being in jail. ROME: It doesn't matter where you're from, right is right, and wrong is wrong. It doesn't matter where you're from – BARKLEY: I don't believe that because listen we spank kids in the South. I think the question about did Adrian Peterson go overboard. But listen Jim we all grew up in different environments. Listen, every black parent in my neighborhood in the South would be in trouble or in jail under those circumstances. BARKLEY: Oh...

The NFL, already swamped with negative news in what has been a horrible week for the league, now has to deal with Adrian Peterson, one of its biggest stars, being indicted for injuring a child. Multiple reports, including TMZ, Fox Sports and the Fox affiliate in Houston, said Peterson was indicted on Thursday in Montgomery County for reckless or negligent injury to a child. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said the indictment stems from Peterson disciplining his son with a switch, which is a flexible rod.

Nine out of 10 parents admit that spanking their children is sometimes appropriate. This week, a New York court ruled in favor of a father charged with child abuse, saying that it was a “reasonable use of force.” On Fox and Friends this morning, psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow said it’s “never a good idea” to spank kids. “The bottom line is it’s always the end of the discussion—hitting your kids. It’s never the beginning of a discussion. It teaches them nothing,” he said.

Watch your butts, kids—a state appeals court says it’s OK for parents to spank them. In a ruling Wednesday, the state Appellate Division found that a Long Island father’s spanking of an 8-year-old boy “was a reasonable use of force.” A Suffolk County Family Court judge had determined last year that the father of the boy had abused his son “by inflicting excessive corporal punishment.” The father allegedly spanked the child with an open hand as punishment for cursing while they were at a party at friend’s home back in 2012, the appeals court ruling says. …

Brazilian Nightmare: World Cup, Spanking and Abortion By Julio Severo For foreigners coming to Brazil for the World Cup, this mega-football event often spells “sex tourism.” But for Brazilians, it’s the old Roman appeasement politics of “bread and circuses.” Give football to Brazilians and they will forget their social and moral woes — at least for a while. The special reason the Brazilian government under socialist President Dilma Rousseff has staged the World Cup is for Brazilian to overlook the consequences of her ill-fated politics and planned woes. In the recent few days, with Brazil under the spell of...

<p>Covered in bruises, his skin red and smarting, this sobbing eight-year-old has just been stripped to his underwear, tied to a tree and beaten by his father.</p>

For Super Bowl Sunday, what could be a more macho alternative for those who don't have a dog in the fight so to speak than a classic western starring Hollywood's greatest he-man John Wayne? The Duke plays a tough cattle baron named George Washington "G.W." McLintock while his frequent leading lady, the lovely Maureen O'Hara plays his tempestuous red headed wife in this wild, wild west take on William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". Definitely not a film for the PC/socialist/feminazi crowd but quite fun for those who are pro-capitalism, pro-freedom and pro-strong male leader. It's also fun to see...

WRIGHTSVILLE, Ga. — A dollar store employee has been arrested for simple battery after whipping a customer's child with a belt. WMAZ-TV (http://on.wmaz.com/WGbiFw ) reports surveillance cameras inside a Wrightsville dollar store recorded an 8-year-old boy running around the store and eventually throwing a cookie jar at 39-year-old Emilia Graciela Bell. Authorities say Bell took off her belt, chased the boy down and spanked him behind the counter. The boy's father called police and Bell was taken into custody. Police said she was free on bond Friday.

They’re calling it the swat heard ‘round the world -- and its echo is still reverberating. On Monday night, the school board in Springtown, Texas, voted to allow students to be paddled by employees of the opposite gender if their parents give written permission. The board's previous policy permitted only same-gender paddling. No one really argued with the idea of corporal punishment; at issue was the question of who gets to administer it, specifically can an adult male swat young girls?

A Texas mother says a local school district is covering its own rear end by considering a policy change regarding corporal punishment after a male vice principal paddled her daughter so hard it left a nasty mark. The district in Springtown, just outside of Fort Worth, allows corporal punishment, but only when doled out by a teacher or administrator of the same sex as the student. But when Taylor Santos, 15, allegedly let a classmate copy her homework, Vice Principal Kirt Shaw disciplined the girl with a large wooden paddle, which he swung with a violent, upward motion, according to...

A Texas schoolgirl is nursing a bruised and 'blistered' behind after she was spanked by her male vice principal. Springtown High School sophomore Taylor Santos was walloped by the teacher after allegedly letting another student copy her work. But her mother, Anna Jorgensen, has complained to the school, furious that they allowed her daughter to be brutally paddled by a man. >snip< The day after her daughter's spanking, Jorgensen called the vice principal to complain but he defended his actions. 'He told me this was normal for her bottom to look like this after receiving swats, and that he was...

Swatting little Johnny on the bottom to make sure he doesn’t try again to put a fork in an electrical socket soon could make mom or dad a criminal subject to the penalties of child-abuse laws in Delaware. And an international family rights organization says it not only opposes the idea, it will be working with state organizations to try to defeat the plan. At issue is Delaware’s Senate Bill 234, which has been approved by the Senate and now is working its way through the House. “Senate Bill 234, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Patricia Blevins (District 7), creates...

The Delaware Attorney General's office says nearly 1/3 of child abuse cases aren't able to be prosecuted because of current laws. Senate Bill 234 is meant to change that and help kids who are being hurt. The bill redefines physical injury to a child, to mean any impairment of physical condition or pain. Senate Bill 234 has parents worried whether or not they can spank their children. Mark Salerno is a stay-at-home father of three and he is against spanking. "I don't believe in spanking your children, there's other ways to discipline them," he said. "I don't think physical pain...