Spanking or Child Abuse... Where do you draw the line?

I was at a gas station and saw a young woman slapping her 3 year-old across the face with the backside of her shoe over and over again...


I think the kid wasn't climbing into the car fast enough for her.





I told her to stop and she started chasing me with the shoe and cussing at me to "mind my own f'ing business"... Her friends held her back.





Was I right to call the police and report it as Child abuse?

Spanking or Child Abuse... Where do you draw the line?
Yes, yes, yes!!


Good man you are! Children need protection from abusers and let's pray that Child Services saves that little child.


It breaks my heart to hear that kids get abused.


She needs her child taken away!!!!
Reply:spanking should be confined to the butt.
Reply:Yes! When you strick a child with anything but your hand and any place but on the rear, it is abuse.
Reply:You were in the right by calling the police. If you didn't it would have looked bad on you. Hitting in the face and with anything other than an open hand is child abuse. Even spanking should be kept to things that are serious, like running into the street when a car is coming. Not for moving to slow.
Reply:If one strikes an adult, it's a crime. Same should hold true for a child.





You were right to call the authorities. Remember this........if a parent would hit their child like that in public, what the hell are they doing to that child........in private?
Reply:omg. I would have called the cops too!





We spank our kids, but never with anything other than our hand and never when we are angry. Spanking is reserved for when they are doing something that could be dangerious or harmful to themselves or their siblings. For example, my son got mad at my husband and ran across the busy parking lot. He got a spanking right there. To us it is better to have his bottom hurt for a min or two and teach him that he isn't allowed to run wild in a parking lot, than to have him think he can act anyway he wants in public and get hit by a car. (He is our rebel. lol) My daughter who is going on 5 has only had two spankings in her entire life. 99% of the the situations are quickly handled with a simple time out.





I also hate it when I see people in public spanking or yelling at small toddlers. At the grocery store the other day a lady was just screaming at her barely walking toddler. I just don't understand people these days. A three year old is too young to even be spanked.
Reply:yes.





i fully agree with spanking, in the right situtions.





spanking should only be ok if:





its is confined to hte butt, and no weapons are used (belt, shoe...etc... It also shouldnt leave any marks.





Other than that, it is abuse.
Reply:ABUSE!!





Using an shoe and striking a child in the head could cause brain damage. A open hand on the bottom is OK
Reply:Absolutely. And you were minding your own business, Child abuse is everyone's business.
Reply:yes you were in the right to call the cops on that ***** you never slap a child over and over and over again in the face with the backside of her shoe that is child abuse when you repeat an action like that if you leave welts or bruises on a child thats considered child abuse thats why they say if a child has more than 1 bruise on his/her body the school etc by law has to call the cops etc. then they take the chid/chidren to c.p.s.
Reply:Definitely. That's awful. And I am all for spanking your child, I spank my nieces and nephews when i watch them. However you should NEVER smack a child in the face. The point of spanking is to discipline the child, not hurt them. Just make them understand what they did was wrong- it shouldn't leave bruises. It shouldn't make the child be afraid of you. And you should never hit them when you are angry, that's how you end up beating them not spanking them. You did a noble and heroic thing.
Reply:abuse she was angry at herself and taking it out on her kid.if the kid was acting up she could have scolded him and given him one or two light swats on the rear in as private place as she could. and held her anger until she got home. you were right i had a similar situation and did call the cops and will appear in court this week. need more people like you. when in doubt call the cops.
Reply:yes you did totaly the right thing. good man!
Reply:YES!





You are brave!! And may have just alerted that mom (or others around her ) to her own inappropriate behavior. I have also done this many times, at a risk to my own safety as well. Do be careful.





Children should never be spanked or phsycially disciplined while the parent is angry! We are human. We can get out of control and hurt a child before we even realize it! So what is the best way to make sure we don't ever make our child afraid or hurt them by accident?





DO NOT HIT CHILDREN -- EVER!
Reply:Yes! The only spanking a child should get is when he/she is deliberately disobeying his/her parents, and the only way he/she should be spanked is with the palm of the parent's hand on the butt. A three year old getting slapped with a shoe on their face is being abused. You were absolutely correct in calling the police.


Honestly, I can't believe there are some people on here who say that you should have minded your own business and that the child may have deserved it. No child deserves to be repeatedly hit on the face with a shoe. To the people who said the child deserved it: Shame on you. You aughta be slapped in the face with a shoe and see how you like it. You probably abuse your kids and think nothing of it.
Reply:I HOOOOOOOOE YOU CALLED THE COPS
Reply:if he was slapping her with a shoe than yah that is child abuse but spanking not.
Reply:Yes,





I too would have called the police. So did you stay to see what happened? I hope the child was taken from her.





I pray she gets her emotions under control. It floors me that in some areas of the world people have have to get a license to fish but anyone can have children with no training what so ever.
Reply:I would report it as abuse, but sometimes you need a little abuse to help them remember to be good...





Look here to see what I mean: http://stuley.com/026.html
Reply:YES you were right. That was not spanking. Spanking is when you use your hand but I don't agree with that either. Using your shoe goes alittle beyond and I would definitely have called the police myself! I am so surprised that her friends held her back from you but didn't tell her to stop hitting her own child! I'm not sure how old you are but I am sure you can defend yourself whereas that little child is defenseless. This makes me really sad that people can bring children in this world but yet they cant treat them the way they should be treated!
Reply:yes thats so mean i mean her child beating her own child that really messed up
Reply:You were being a good samaritan.





There's a big difference between hovering around someone like a vulture and getting involved because they're beating the snot out of their kid. Right on man... report that every time.





If you don't stop it, the cycle of child abuse will just continue.
Reply:Yes you were!!!!





That is definitely child abuse and thank you for making a stand!





A tap on the butt is one thing, to slap a child with a shoe is something else. I believe the "hit" should be hard enough to know they have done something wrong, not hard enough to even leave a red mark. Most of the time the child is up set about making you mad, not the spanking they just got.
Reply:Yes. I'm usually for people minding their own business when a child is just getting a spanking. However, this was obvious child abuse. For not getting in the car fast enough? Hitting in the face with a shoe? That's just horrible and uncalled for.


You did the right thing.
Reply:Yes. You were right. I spank my children but never to the point where I'm doing it with an object or leaving serious marks. Somehow I don't see how a shoe could not leave marks. Good on you!
Reply:Good for you. While I do not consider the occasional potch in the behind abuse, hitting a child in the face over and over with a shoe is absolutely abuse. And the fact that she started chasing you as well shows that she has anger management issues. I hope that when her case comes up they call you as a witness and you go to plead for the child.





I don't hope for the child to be placed in foster care, but that the mother gets serious counseling to help her deal with her demons!!





I have to congratulate you again for sticking up for that child.
Reply:loook the mom has to do what she had to do why are u going to call the police on her for she probably went to jail. have you ever been to jail.that was a very cruel thing to do . You people in society have to learn that not all kids are the same.some can be hyper.some can be spoil.and some just need to get a spanking.


you know how much work you have to do to keep them in place.
Reply:Yes you were right. That is definite child abuse. Spanking should be done only on the bottom and it should be no more than 3 swats.
Reply:Look at you, the hero of the day ;)





And I still have no idea how to vote for you on that news thing you asked me...





1 crack with her hand should've sufficed-a shoe? nuh uh
Reply:Yes you were right to do so. I smacked my son on the hand to teach him no. But I would never hit him on any area on the head, let alone with my shoe. That is wrong.
Reply:You are a SNITCH. How about you mind your own business and raise your children so that want rob me when they get older.



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