Couple arrested after children forced to dig ditches

Associate Press ^ | March 14, 2002 | A/P Staff

[mamelukesabre]

Sending a child to be without supper on occasion does not make them "malnourished."

~~~~~~~`

I would not trust a social services worker's definition of "malnourished". It is a subjective term. It's like a cop saying "the perp was beligerent so I had to subdue him".

Maybe it was the case, and maybe it wasn't.

[scholar]

Check my post at #40. While I am still terribly concerned about the possiblility of abused children, I am also conceding on the possibility of a lot of bureaucratic BS here.

[usconservative]

Ever heard of sending a child to bed without supper?

My three year old goes on hunger strikes. Won't eat dinner, or breakfast the following morning but boy will he eat lunch after skipping two meals.

Hmmm... I must be endangering my child by not FORCING him to eat. Next time I'll have to crank up the ol' IV machine lest Child Protective Services think I'm not feeding my child!

.../sarcasm

[Renatus]

My dad made me dig ditches because he wanted to teach us how to work. He also made us hoe the garden when it was 100 degrees outside. We did it in the full sun! He never let us sit on our @sses. We all had to work. I love him to this day and he has been dead for many years. He was a great dad and mom stood behind him too. I dug those ditches from the time I was 8 years old. Also had to milk cows when it was 10 degrees below zero. Didn't hurt me any. This government control is grotesque.

[xfmrman]

When my youngest was 6 years old, he didn't want to eat his vegetables - because they were green! I told him he couldn't leave the table until they were eaten. FIVE HOURS LATER he was still at the table! I relented because I wanted to go to bed. He'd probably still be there (20+ years). Stubborn little fart took after his old man.

[rockfish59]

they'll never get rich, by digging a ditch!
but they will get callouses!

[Renatus]

they'll never get rich, by digging a ditch!

Ditchdiggers here get $100.00 an hour.

[NC_Libertarian]

He never drank again.

Uh huh.

[Darksheare]

My brother and I dug huge pits in the back yard when we were kids... does that count? Many times the poachers that jacked deer in our back yard fell into them....

[MIgramma]

Yeah, mine too and our "driveway" was 1/4 mile long!

We did have a tractor and snowplow, but if we got to fighting and there was a lot of snow, out we went. By the time we got to the top of the hill and back we were too pooped to fight.

[mommadooo3]

I would not trust a social services worker's definition of "malnourished". It is a subjective term...............................From first hand experience, I can tell you THIS.... 'malnourished' is LARGELY dependant on the obesity of the 'social worker'. Seems those fat people have a mindset of calling the skinny-minnies, 'anorexic', 'bulemic', or 'malnourished'.

[antaresequity]

LOL...when I first went to work for my evil Stepfathers construction company (age 12, summer vacation), I kicked butt. I would scramble around cleaning the sites and digging ditches...I loved it...I got paid $1.00 per hour...

All of the guys on the site told me I should get at least $2.00 per hour...So I got up the nerve and went into the office one afternoon and asked for my first raise ever..." I want $2.00 per hour!" I squeeled.

My stepfather reached out with his steel like hands and grabbed my limp little wrists and pulled my arms towards him. He forced my palms skyward and they were blistered, scratched and scabbed...As he looked through his bi-foculs over his red cragy nose...he examined them. Without moving his head, he raised his focus over the frames of his glasses, and with a piercing gaze... " I will give you $1.25"...

As I walked out of the office I felt great...I felt like I was growing up. I was the talk of the site the next day. My mother caught wind of this incident and the next check I received had the $2.00 per hour rate...

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL!

[WillaJohns]

Thanks for that great story. You're a pretty good writer, did you know that?

[MeekOneGOP]

I love it! :O)

[antaresequity]

Thanks for that great story. You're a pretty good writer, did you know that?

I used to love to write, but my right brain beat the left brain to a pulp in a knock down drag out that lasted 25 years...now I gaze at stock charts all day and confine my ramblings to these threads...

Thanks for the compliment, perhaps It will spur a rematch...

[xm177e2]

I wasn't there or anything, but Uncle Bobby would have done better to brandish the rifle while keeping it pointed in a safe direction. The message will be recieved just the same. Remember, a gun is always loaded. Other than that, he sounds like a great guy and the perfect Uncle.

Never point a firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy. But if you are willing to destroy the target, go right ahead...

[Kenny Bunk]

My heart goes out to those poor abused children that you seem to find so amusing. Where is your compassion?

By the way, there's quite a few chores to be done round my place ... you don't suppose these people would rent the greedy little buggers out. I couldn't find it in my heart to be so tough on'em. Give all the Peanut Butter they want ... at mealtimes that is.

[antaresequity]

My heart goes out to those poor abused children that you seem to find so amusing

Whoa....I am with you...I had no intention to minimize the apparent abuse of children depicted in the thread. My heart is extended as well.

The story invoked a memory of mine; of an event that was seminal in my growing up...perhaps this wasn't the proper format, but the mind opened up and my hands started typing. My memory was a fond one...and if these children have indeed been abused...I apologize for my insensativity...

Regards Bunk

[luckystarmom]

I will say that saying a kid is "malnourished" can be misleading. My 7 year old son completely looks malnourished. He barely eats anything, and he still doesn't weigh 50 lbs.

Now, his 5 year old sister is a little hefty. She already weighs 55 lbs. Her identical twin sister weighs 45 lbs.

I give them all the same things, and they all eat differently.