Mother gets five years probation for spanking son with belt

ktrk ^

[tomakaze]

yep, full agreement here.

[ccmay]

My wife and I decided before our kids were ever born that we would spank, but subject to certain rules:

• Buttocks only (That's what God made their fat little butts for!)
• Fully clothed.
• Never hard enough to leave a mark, other than some mild redness.
• Open hand only.
• In a cool and collected frame of mind every time.
• Only for repeated acts of willful disobedience, after being warned of the consequences; or when the child engages in something immediately dangerous to himself or others (e.g. running into the street).
• Spanking to cease when the child starts regular school. If it hasn't worked by then, it's not likely to do so in future, and can only be harmful to the child and family if a busybody teacher gets wind of it.

It seems to have worked perfectly. No, my kids are not perfect, but they are very, very good, and very well adjusted. And as it turns out, we only had to spank them a little, maybe 5 times for my daughter and a dozen times for my son. Like shouting, it's much more effective when used sparingly.

There is a place for loving physical discipline, but it has to be safe and appropriate. Beltings that draw blood and leave the pattern of the leatherwork in the child's skin are neither. This mom should count her lucky stars she didn't get jail time.

-ccm

[Cold Heat]

She said she didn't think the punishment was unreasonable.

LOL! Neither do I.

[sistergoldenhair]

I'll add hangers to your list.

And the dreaded spatulas and wooded spoons.
I'm sure the list is long.
It didn't hurt me one bit.
However, I did find that I got a much better results from "in your face" style yelling.

[Melas]

Hello, this woman left open cuts on this child with this belt. There is no defense for this.

[Melas]

Read it again Joe. This woman didn't spank her child. She beat her child with a belt and left bruises, welts, and lacerations. Unfortunately laceration sounds a whole lot better than jagged cut or wound, which is the meaning behind the word. She got lucky with 5 years.

[sistergoldenhair]

Fumble fingers.
wooden spoons

[Between the Lines]

And the dreaded spatulas and wooded spoons. I'm sure the list is long.

Flyswatters still gives me chills.

[Corin Stormhands]

Wonder what my family (aunts and uncles included) would've gotten for using the razor strap on me and my cousins...

[Joe Hadenuf]

She beat her child with a belt and left bruises, welts, and lacerations.

Yep, belts have a tendency to leave welts. Get ready for every kid that gets a licking to file charges, or turn in their parents for alleged abuse. Bet the rent...

[Cagey]

Yep, belts have a tendency to leave welts.

But, you ignored the lacerations. Belts leave lacerations when they are used as a whip. If every parent who has, with malice, serated a kid's skin with a belt goes to jail, I'm just pleased as can be.

[Joe Hadenuf]

You bet, lets leave it up to the courts to decide and interpret and examine the injuries for every kid that turns in his parents cause he gets a licking. Let's do it for the children. I say, every parent that uses a belt or other weapon on their kid gets the same Texas treatment.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks, AP. See #20 . . .

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the update . . .

[Mustang]

Geeezzz...If this PC nonsense was around in the '50s, my Mom would have faced 25 years to life.

Mustang sends from "Malpaso News"

[Mo1]

On the day after the incident, Sul Ross Elementary School employees and Child Protective Services officials found bruises, welts and lacerations across the boy’s arms, legs, chest and back. Some of the marks revealed a distinct pattern of the belt’s cross-stitching.

That does not sound like a spanking

[goodieD]

No, I know the ins and outs of the CPS games.. and I know that ANY discipline today can get you thrown in jail or in CPS hell...I also know that with today's overzealous society, one phone call from a wierd neighbor can get you the same... and considering 80 percent of all CPS charges are false.. I know that not as many parents are hurting their children as people are led to believe. Do kids get abused by parents and others? sure. Does it happen as often as the media wants you to think? No. Some people think yelling at your child is abuse. Some people think any kind of discipline amounts to "humliation"... we only know what is reported in the media on this story... I'm more likely to take the side of the parent than the CPS nazis.

[Cagey]

I'll agree to an extent that CPS is often wrong and over zealous. But in this case it was school officials who first discovered this child had been beaten. Not spanked, but beaten to the point there were lacerations on his back, arms and legs. And a jury, not a judge, agreed after seeing all the facts.

If you have a source which backs up your claim that 80% of all CPS charges are false, please link me to it. I'd like to see those numbers.

[Fraulein]

Mine included belts, hair brushes, rulers and even a telephone once.

Mine also included belts and hairbrushes. That was back in the early-mid 1980s when belts had those metal circles on them. Ouch! Of course, good ole' mom would also pop the belt first just for effect. LOL! And yet somehow I turned out just fine.

[glory]

Well, I won't comment on whether the punishment was appropriate. I can remember getting belted and I was born in 1970. Nothing was ever bruised and no skin broken--EVER.
I do find it quite ironic that a woman disciplining her child(and I'll bet money he was not injured in any way) gets the same sentence as a young woman in Ohio who put her baby in a dumpster to die.