"According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the incident in question stems from “disciplining of a son with a switch.”
For those of you unfamiliar with the Southern vernacular, a switch is a flexible tree branch used to swat a child across the backsides.
How you view that — as an act of parental discipline or as child abuse — depends largely on your age and geographic location. "
I hope people don't jump to conclusions even though the picture (if really the 'after' picture) is disturbing. I don't believe in spanking and my wife and I never spanked our children, but that doesn't mean I think that all spanking is abuse. It would be great if we could just let the judicial and child protective systems -- people with far more detail than we'll have -- come to an informed conclusion. I am really tired of trial by social media.
if those pics are real that goes beyond a deserved spanking imo.
when I was a kid I got spanked once and that was because I set my backyard on fire. I found some matches and was lighting twigs on fire, thought I put out everything. come to find out there were fire trucks lined up in front of my house and firemen ready to storm my house. look outside and my backyard was a blaze. my mother gave me a good whack on my butt and told me to go to my room.
I think most people are quick to call child abuse these days and get DCYF involved. but I grew up in a time when you were still threatened with a belt if you did something really bad and I turned out ok. this goes a little beyond a normal spanking though....if those pics are legit.
I agree with you about the pics, I am just tired of everyone (including me) judging people. Sometimes it's obvious, and this may turn out to be one of those cases. I think it's more that in this 'reality TV world' we all draw so many conclusions about people we don't really know. Again, I am not saying this to defend Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Michael Brown, or anyone -- I am just speaking to the social phenomenon of reality TV and social media and it's impact on how quickly we judge people.
BTW -- I was threatened and sometimes hit with the belt too. I turned out OK too, but I disagree that that makes it OK. I feared my dad in a way that was unnecessary. I am not saying the threats and whacks were abuse; I am saying they were unnecessary and probably did more harm than good. That said, I know that many people are OK with that form of discipline and I respect that point of view.