Warrant issued for arrest of Vikings' Peterson (Trigger Warning: Graphic description of child abuse)

[rocktivity]

24. For my parents' generation, it was discipline, not abuse -- and "everybody did it"

because it was considered "normal" and "proper" child-rearing -- spare the rod and spoil the child, the Good Book says.

My parents (Mom mostly, Dad was only called in for major infractions) would qualify as abusers by today's standards, I suppose. But it's a moot issue anyway, because it didn't work on me. I came to resent not being physically punished as the only reward of "being good" -- it's sparing positive reinforcement that "spoils" a child. And since my parents' brand of discipline also proved to me that might makes right, I came to derive more pleasure in getting revenge against authority figures than trying to appease them.

I know Peterson is barely 30, and I hope I'm not being unfair, but I do think he should have known better. Reacting to all child rearing situations with anger and physical force has long since been disproven. If he'd done just a little basic research, he would have known his son is at least a year away from truly grasping the concept of taking turns, and just cutting off access to the toy would have worked better.


rocktivity