I ran across this today and find I don't know which side of this one I'm on. On one hand its stories like this that prevent parents from being able to spank their kids, but on the other hand at what point is spanking considered abuse? They point out in the story that the padle was "a 2 foot long 2x6 that weighed 2.5 lbs." Last I checked a piece of 2x6 should weigh more than that so is it a media exageration? If not then I'd lean to abuse, a 2x6 of any length is way more than you need to spank a kid. My uncle made a paddle that was big (by my standards as a kid!) and had holes drilled in it. I feared that paddle but not nearly as much as a switch from a tree outside....

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3148361

 

Maybe they should use the paddle on him. If a 11 year old needs to be punished I think he's a little old for a spanking. Try reasoning - grounding - take things away.
Don't get me wrong I believe in spankings for certian ages just not beatings!!

 

That is definatly crossing the line, in fact any dicipline that leaves a mark is unacceptable.

A spanking is one thing, using a paddle is another. My boy has had several spankings but he is getting to the age where it just isn't a reasonable disipline action anymore. Personally I feel a little swat on the butt when the kids are younger and don't understand reasoning yet is acceptable. Anything more than that is abuse.

An 11 year old is way to old for a spanking.

 

every kid reacts to disipline differently. To say "An 11 year old is way to old for a spanking." is not right. Maybe the parents tried everything and that was a last resort and the only thing that snaps him back into place. Once I got older(10-18), if I screwed up I didn't get spanked, I got beat. and it worked, I never did those things I got beat for again. Every kid is different, what is right for your kids is not right for every kid.

 

If he needed a spanking at 11.....he didn't get enough when he was 3


It's the old adage about tying an elephant up with a piece of string....It works if the elephant thinks he's still tied up with a chain

 

I look at it this way.......before all this concern over "spankings" we never had kids shooting kids......the worst we ever did was break a window or get into a fist fight or what ususally turned out to be a wrestling match. I am lucky....my kids learned respect even before they coudl walk and it shows. I have not spanked one of mine in years and even then hardly ever.......the thing was they KNEW I would if they crossed that line.

 

When iw as a young boy....

i got my *** beat a few times and it seemed like it was hard at the time, but in actuality...it never really hurt...it just scared me more than anything. My dad never spanke dme hard enough that i couldn't sit down 20 minutes later, and there was never any marks. But when i got old enough that grounding meant something to me...thats what happened...trust me...there were times when i wish i would have been spanked...vs the punishment i recieved... one summer i got my truck (about a month after i got it) taken away from me... do you know what its like to drop a new motor in a truck and new tires, rims, lift, paint, carpet, seats....plus more and more....and not be able to drive it... i would have rather had my dad beat my *** till it blead than have that truck taken away from me.

but im here to tell you right now...when the time comes for my kids to be spanked, regardless of the laws...you can bet, it will be done. Im not gonna let my kid grow up as some gangbanger, gothic freak, drug abusing hippified sonavagun...simply because he/she didn't get the disiplin they needed.

 

The thing is this guy was ARRESTED for it! It concerns me because kids already run rampant; at least out on this coast; but this could set a precedence of actually arresting and maybe convicting parents when it comes to disciplining their own children Can you imagine having the police show up at your door with a warrant for your arrest because the old lady across the street saw you bend your kid over and spank him?

As I stated if he really was using a 2 foot 2x6 he went over the top but I've learned that with media exaggeration that it may have been a 1 foot switch.

 

Forget the spanking, just wave the gun around a lil bit.

kidding kidding.

 

How do they know the kid doesn't bruise real easy? My grandfather was spanked, my dad was spanked, i was spanked and my kids will be spanked.

 

Here's the key to this whole story- always have to keep it in context.

"CPS workers visited Dara Wilson's home twice in 1999 to investigate alleged abuse, before Charles Wilson was part of the household, Olguin said.

``Those reports were also about overuse of physical discipline but there was nothing as severe as this case,'' said Olguin. ``Both of those times we did provide treatment services like parenting classes and counseling to the family. The case was kept open almost a year, until April 2000. Since then, we have not received any other calls about this family.''

The boy suffered injuries on and above his buttocks, Cromie said. The boy required two visits to a University of Texas Medical Branch clinic in Galveston for treatment after his injuries were reported by school officials, he said.

The alleged beating occurred on the evening of April 6, Cromie said. The stepfather was angry because the boy had apparently lied about getting into trouble at school. Cromie said."

It's sounding to me more like these people are serial child abusers, not disciplinarians. In any event, if you spank your child, leave bruises, and that child goes to school- school officials are required, by law, to report those bruises. Like it or not, that's the way these things stand.

 

I was waiting for someone to bring that up. The first reported abuse was investigated PRIOR to Charles Wilson being in the household. So in this case it looks like HE is being judged on the alleged sins of his wife. Second, as you pointed out schools are required to report things like bruising. I believe this is a good thing in this day and age BUT I also know for a fact that things of this nature do often get taken out of context. In the first investigated instance with the mom, we don't know if this was one of those cases or not. The child protective services did not take the children then, so in their eyes the "abuse" didn't warrant that. So now years later one of those kids is spanked by a new family member and the first act is to arrest him?

"The boy suffered injuries on and above his buttocks, Cromie said. The boy required two visits to a University of Texas Medical Branch clinic in Galveston for treatment after his injuries were reported by school officials, he said."
I have to wonder what extent the injuries were. Being treated at a hospital doesn't necessarily mean that the injuries were severe. Visit 1 could have been to check the bruises, vist 2 could have been to see if they were healing properly. And paddling DOES cause bruising in some kids, even if its not considered a severe paddling.

I'm not really trying to defend this guy because I don't know all the facts. My fear is that authorities go too far with these types of things, which prevent parents from properly disciplining their children which cause them to run further rampant. And let's not forget that there are in fact GOOD parents who face nightmares with CPS because some of these child protection laws are enforced by people who think that ANY discipline is wrong. Before anyone attacks me on this I can say that I KNOW instances where this has been the case, good parents losing their kids for alleged abuse such as a mild spanking or sending the kid to bed without dinner as punishment.

 

That I haven't come across, but that isn't to say it can't happen either. I guess the big deal to me is looking at my own three children. Yes, they got a swat on the bottom very occasionally when they were small, but that was a "blue moon" type deal. They got grounded and lost privileges when the occasion called for it (still do, as a matter of fact). No, they didn't sit in their room with a gameboy, Nintendo, or the 'net. It isn't necessary to paddle a child to get a point across- that's the opposite extreme of ignoring situations and letting the kids go out of control. Works the same with the dogs- all three of 'em know what "time out" is, and it's very effective. That's just what works for us- every family is different.

 

The "Time-out"

I’m guessing that most who have been successful at this technique are very diligent in administrating it, and I applaud you.

Unfortunately, I have observed in most child rearing cases, the “time-out” thing to be almost laughable. This is due to the fact that many of the parent(s) lack in the consistency and follow through required to achieve the desired results (they’re pushovers).

I for one, paddled my two boys until the age where they could actually comprehend what a “time out” was. I don’t hold a PHD in Child Psychology, but I’m sorry, that two year-old brat throw’n a conniption fit in the grocery store check-out line is only gonna understand one thing.

There is only one more observation I would like to make here….

I am 43 years-old. Like many generations before me, I am from a generation of children in the U.S. that was spanked. We behaved ourselves in society, and acting out in school or in public was unacceptable. I can count on one hand how many times when I was younger the classroom was disrupted, or public fits of anger were displayed. Why is it then, in an age where paddling (controlled physical discipline) has taken a back seat over the last twenty years to alternative forms of discipline, that we have such a wide spread disciplinary problem (in all demographics) in our youth?

 

well, I'm just exiting the 'youth' of the nation. I'm graduating here really soon, and the parents are softies. I'm one of the only kids that has to buy my vehicle, pay for insurance, be accounted for for anything extracurricular. Parents in this generation are softies because they feel their parents were too hard on them. The kids have no respect for anyone. People I know are so ignorant of social boundries and good decision making, it's pathetic. This group of kids isn't lookin so good, and I'm one of 'em. God bless us all, and may he get rid of the busy-body social activists.

Ryan