Sunday, September 14, 2014
Is life a contact sport?
As many of us saw last week, a video surfaced of Ray Rice hitting his fiance so that she fell unconscious. Now Adrian Peterson has confessed to hitting his son. News reports say that Peterson had been "disciplining" his 4 year old son by hitting him repeatedly with a tree branch. This "disciplinary action" was taken because his son got into a squabble over a video game with another one of Peterson's kids. While Peterson claims he is nothing but fair, his son has a different story. He said that "Daddy Peterson hit me in the face", which is considered abuse as opposed to corporal punishment. The child went on to say that he had "been hit with belts before" and that Peterson had a "whooping room". While he has been indicted, he has not been convicted, leaving the Football League in quite the moral grey area when it comes to determining what his League punishment should be. Peterson went on to elaborate on how much he loves his kids, and only “whoops” them because he wants them be good. Toward the end of the interview, Peterson said he would reconsider using switches in the future, but he would never “eliminate whooping my kids . . . because I know how being spanked has helped me in my life.” But is it helpful? Most studies show that hitting your kids in any manner can not only cause physical harm, but increased aggression and antisocial behavior, as well as impaired cognitive development. While some parents will say that this is a way to help mold their child into a better person, studies show that it can be quite the opposite.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEven though I've heard many stories of celebrities claiming to acquire their success because of the rough childhood's they endured, I am still opposed to physical punishment on children as a way to increase their "toughness". I agree with your claim, but I feel that the evidence you used is not the best to support your claim. The research could have a biased outlook because it is titled "End All Corporal Punishment of Children". It presents research, but it's also clear that it takes a stand on the issue
ReplyDeleteThis also brings up how some famous people feel above it all and carry out acts of violence they necessarily wouldn't do if they weren't in the position. This could also be due to their own childhood and how they were raised. However this shouldn't justify their actions. I agree with the points you bring up Frank and hopefully there aren't any more incidents of violence committed by celebrities on the media.
ReplyDelete