I do agree that sometimes you have to deal with each child differently. My dad only had one way- the belt- that was the way he was raised, that is all he knew. When I discovered my step daughter took up smoking as a teen, she thought I was going to tell her dad. Um no, your going to tell him today. When they decide they are grown enough to take on adult behavior then they have to pay the adult price.
Emma, the above picture doesn't illustrate that the boy is constantly treated this way by his Mom. He got caught up in the fever of the moment and she saw it, wasn't having any, and in this age of technology, it was caught on camera. I've seen some parental brutality to make an average person cringe. My dad was a lawyer and when I told him about the neighbors, he threatened to bring charges. Hopefully, it stopped for I wasn't allowed to visit them anymore.
@Lois Winters This is very true!! It would be hypocritical of me to say I had moments with my own teens that I sure am glad was not caught on any video. One time, I told my 15 year old daughter she couldn't go somewhere, she went running out the door anyway, so I chased her down the road and pulled her home by her ponytail. If anyone had gotten a video of it, I would've looked like a mean mom. But to this day, she remembers the incident ,still makes jokes about it and agrees I was in the right for doing it.
To one and all; this business about correcting your children with an occasional swat on the rear or a stern chastisement to straighten up and fly right when out in public does not constitute adult bullying of any child at all. The fact that people feel free to notify the law when they see this is just wrong. All parents are charged with keeping their kids under control and it is expected they do so. I know abusive behavior when I see it. I had to deal with it during my career as a nurse sometimes, and this nonsense that we cannot make a child behave is just that: nonsense.
Nobody knows what goes on in someone's home, but it's never ok to hit a kid in the face, head, back, etc. I spent years in an office hearing phone conversations and comments, "I'll string you up," "I'll put you in the ground," "I just hit them with whatever's in my hand," - none of that is discipline. If someone is willing to slap their kid around in public, it's probably a sample of what goes on at home. People also get caught up in showing off or it can be about their pride, etc. in public. A tv therapist that I'm not a fan of, but really loved some of his ideas for discipline that were for older out-of-control teens: Depending on the seriousness of their bad behavior, a week or a few weeks of nothing but being in their room, with nothing in it, except sheets, pillow, a bed and their school books,no novels, nothing and the door removed, only coming out for the restroom, meals and school. Some think that wouldn't work as well as hitting them, but it's more strict than prisoners get, and the main drawback for most parents is the time and effort involved in checking to make sure all the rules are being followed the entire time. I remember a black man on the radio talking about a really bad beating his mother gave him. She may have never given it another thought, but it changed how he felt about her, based on how he sounded when he was talking. I've seen and heard about too many parents in a rage, doing emotional or physical harm to their child, in the name of discipline.