Discipline and Abuse

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Maybe I’m too sensitive, but this just made me sick. Via Post-Tribune:

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Supreme Court has reversed a woman’s 2006 battery conviction for whipping her 11-year-old son with a belt or extension cord, holding that she was reasonably exercising parental discipline.

In a 4-1 decision, the court ruled that Sophia Willis’ use of discipline did not cross the line into criminal conduct.

“In response to a charge of battery, Willis raised the defense of parental discipline privilege. Considering the totality of the circumstances, we are not persuaded that the State disproved the defense beyond a reasonable doubt,” Justice Robert D. Rucker wrote in Tuesday’s decision.

Beating an 11 year old with a belt or an extension cord is reasonable parental discipline? What???

First the boy was 11, to me that’s far too old for spanking on the bare butt. As a preteen there are far too many adult-like feeling coming up, and to have a nude body part associated with violence can lead to all sorts of issues later on.

Willis, a single mother, had her son remove his pants and then hit him five to seven times on the buttocks with an extension cord or belt, resulting in bruising.

Secondly hitting with a belt or an extension cord? Not cool on any level. And hard enough to leave bruises? I’m sorry, that’s not discipline. That’s abuse. Though, I don’t think any spanking (or what ever cute pet names you have for it) is discipline. It’s actually counterproductive to discipline.

The goal of parental discipline is to teach children self-discipline. If the only reason children have for not doing something wrong is the threat of being punished, then what guidelines will they have for acceptable behavior when no one is there to punish them? Hitting children when we catch them doing something wrong doesn’t teach them how to do what’s right; it teaches them that they need to be sneaky and to lie to avoid being caught.

Links:

• Project No Spank
• Does Spanking Equal Discipline?
• Ten Reasons Not To hit Your Kids
• Gentle Christian Parenting
• 9 Things to do Instead of Spanking

[tags]abuse, spanking, hitting, punishment, discipline, parenting[/tags]