Wal-Mart Shopper arrested ...

[blas87]

I cannot believe anyone would think it was ok to just randomly go up and slap someone's kid like that, or even try to defend it as being ok!

[kibbles]

Even I got to admit that the anyone in the world trying to defend this "man" would be the first to call the cops on a parent who lightly swatted their child.

There is nothing that would ever make it ok to do what this man did!

[violetyoshi]

My dad is about my size and he's the nastiest, most pugilistic bastard in the hemisphere when it comes to "his girls" (me, my sister, my mother, my kid, my grandmother, etc.) You mess with any of us, my dad would kill. I don't mean that figuratively.

I was coming in the door with my mom yesterday, saying "can you imagine what would happen if the guy did that in front of dad?"

And he said "what" and I said "That asshole that hit the baby."

He didn't say anything but man, you should have seen the black look on his face. It was the Event Horizon of an apocolyptic asskicking.

Did he look like this:?

It's from the episode A Visit to Anthony from Ren & Stimpy

[tropicsgoddess]

I cannot believe anyone would think it was ok to just randomly go up and slap someone's kid like that, or even try to defend it as being ok!

Me either. If somebody did that to my child there would be HELL TO PAY!

[tabbyblack13]

What I don't get about the story is what was Mom doing while all this was going on? I mean, I know she called the cops and everything, but I can't imagine her just standing by.

Probably dumbstruck by his behavior. I know I would be, then I would go for the balls and made sure it hurt. It would make me really happy to use my steel toes boots.

[jayel]

I'm not stating my position on this one way or another. I am curious though; those of you who want to see the guy crucified, are you okay with spanking a child as a form of discipline? Would it have been okay if the mother had spanked the child in attempt to get it to behave that day? How can you justify one and not the other? Hitting is still hitting, after all.

[Ree]

Hitting is still hitting, and I am of the firm belief that spanking the child sends mixed signals.

There is a difference, though in a PARENT swatting THEIR OWN CHILD on the bottom, and reinforcing it with a "No, Don't do that..."(if they feel that is what works for them) and a total stranger slapping a child across the face because their crying is annoying them.

[jayel]

I agree Ree, there is a huge difference between a parent disciplining their own child, and a stranger stepping in to do that for them. A stranger disciplining someone else's child in ANY form is unacceptable (save said stranger is defending property or safety and immediate action must be taken to protect. Even then, not hitting.)

[Ree]

I've always felt that spanking or not is up to each parent to decide, and while I am really not a big fan of spanking, as long as it's done with restraint I can see that it might be effective as a deterrent, as long as the child is of an age to understand why it's being done.

It has to be done "properly", though.
As I said, the child should be of an age where they are able to associate the spanking with what they have done wrong.
It should just be one sharp smack on the bottom, reinforced with the word' No", and not repeated concentrated swats that send a kid reeling.
It should not be done with an object such as a strap, belt, hairbrush, wooden spoon, or whatever. If a parent uses their own hand, and they can feel that it hurts them, then they know it's hurting the child.
NEVER on the face.
In my opinion, anywhere other than on the behind is bordering on abuse or assault.

We wouldn't be allowed to walk up to a coworker and just slap them across the face, or hit them across the buttocks with whatever we have in our hands, so why is it OK to do it to a child?

[kibbles]

We wouldn't be allowed to walk up to a coworker and just slap them across the face, or hit them across the buttocks with whatever we have in our hands, so why is it OK to do it to a child?

I couldn't agree more Ree!! I've always said, if an adult was saucy to you and you slapped them across the face, you'd land yourself in jail..why is it acceptable to do to a child?

Wonderful post, agree with every word you said!

[jayel]

Whenever people make the argument that it's okay to physically disciline children because they are young and don't understand words, only pain, I ask this: Why then, is it not okay to strike an elderly person who has lost their sensibilities and may speak or act inappropriately?

Btw, Ree, both of us being Christians and obviously not fans of spanking, I'd be interested in hearing your views on those who swear that the Bible supports, even encourages spanking children.

[Rapscallion]

We wouldn't be allowed to walk up to a coworker and just slap them across the face, or hit them across the buttocks with whatever we have in our hands, so why is it OK to do it to a child?

For me, the difference is that the child cannot be touched by the law, whereas an adult behaving in a ... 'disappointing' way has the knowledge that there are legal consequences. Children don't have the same reasoning capacity, but they understand momentary pain if relevant to a misdeed.

I'm not in favour of a child beating beaten, but a quick spank to reinforce the idea that there are unacceptable behaviours is fine in my book.

Um, did we derail?

Rapscallion

[Rapscallion]

Whenever people make the argument that it's okay to physically disciline children because they are young and don't understand words, only pain, I ask this: Why then, is it not okay to strike an elderly person who has lost their sensibilities and may speak or act inappropriately?

Children will grow up to learn from the behaviour, and senile people have never got better and improved.

Rapscallion

[Ree]

Btw, Ree, both of us being Christians and obviously not fans of spanking, I'd be interested in hearing your views on those who swear that the Bible supports, even encourages spanking children.

Perhaps we can start a new thread to discuss that, then, rather than derail this one anymore than it has been.

http://www.fratching.com/showthread....1231#post31231

[protege]

My dad is about my size and he's the nastiest, most pugilistic bastard in the hemisphere when it comes to "his girls" (me, my sister, my mother, my kid, my grandmother, etc.) You mess with any of us, my dad would kill. I don't mean that figuratively.

My dad's not a very big guy. Most of the time, he's pleasant, and jokes around a bit. However, mess with his family, or someone he cares about...and well, he'll hurt you. He won't necessarily kick your ass--he'll find other ways.

For example, years ago, my brother and his friend were attacked by a trio of high-school students while playing football down the street. As we're coming home one night, my brother pointed one of the guys out. At that point, my father lost it--have you ever seen an '87 Ford Tempo lay rubber?

About a second after passing those fools, he pulls the handbrake, lays a strip of rubber, passes the guys, pulls the handbrake again, smokes the tires, roars towards them, and then handbrakes the car to a stop--inches from the assholes. He got out of the car, started screaming at the biggest one, and said that if they bothered his kids again, he'd deal with them accordingly. Needless to say, the guy's two friends started backing away...and we never had problems with them. Hell, they wouldn't even come down our block!

More recently, I had a run-in with a local garage over the MG. They'd double-billed me for a few things, lost some parts, damaged the car's hood and decided not to return phone calls. Bastards.

After several months of this, plus various claims of "we'll take care of it," I'd had enough. I was pissed, and wanted the garage owner's head. I'd carefully archived every invoice and receipt for the car. All of my records were carefully detailed. Dad and I eventually used them to craft a strongly-worded letter to the garage owner, CC-ing one of his former classmates, who happened to be a lawyer.

From what I understand, as the guy was reading the letter, the color literally went out of his face I guess our records were a bit intimidating to him. Well, that and we hinted we'd turn his ass in (to the state Dept of Transportation) for inspection fraud, as well as possibly suing his ass for ripping me off. Of course, we then had him "by the balls," and padded the "fix list" a bit...mainly of things that were paid for but not done. But, I threw a few other things on there...simply because I didn't feel like doing them

Getting back on topic here, my parents were of the "spare the rod, spoil the child" way of thinking. Yep, I got spanked growing up. Did it hurt? Sure it did...at the time. Yet, I turned out fine.

But now, you can't do that. You get too many people who need to mind their own damn business. Not all children respond to spanking, nor do they all respond to sending them to their rooms or taking things away. Hell, if my parents sent me to my room, it really wasn't punishment. Most of my toys were in there--and I could easily spend hours playing with Legos.

As such, there's a fine line between "discipline" and "abuse." If you choose to spank, one swat should be enough. Not so much that it bruises the child, but enough to ensure that their actions aren't tolerated.