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

Question

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?

Answer 1

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!!!!

Answer 2

It's abuse when the child is spanked excessivly and that's too long, too hard, with weapons, etc. A spanking with an open hand to the butt with maybe a 10 or so swats is just fine. It's supposed to hurt, but it doesn't need to be brutal. I was raised getting spanked that way. I got it bare butt which I don't think is wrong either. You can see how red their cheeks are getting and you can get a sting with fewer swats which is good, I think. It worked great for me growing up.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

What you described is child abuse... no question in my mind.

I spank my children when it is required. I have never hit any of the kids except on the bottom (exception of a single light tap on the hand to prevent them from touching something hot or similar).

Faces are not for slapping but that is not what makes it abuse. My own mother used to slap my face when I had a bad attitude as a teen (single slap); I hated it but deserved it. I do not think she was abusive. I have merely chosen to not slap faces when disciplining my kids.

The best spanking instrument is a hand. Instruments have there place with older children and under exceptional circumstances. Never with a 3 year old!

It is the combination of using a shoe repeatedly across the face of a 3 year old which makes it abuse. I am so glad that you alerted the authorities.

Answer 7

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.

Answer 8

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.

Answer 9

ABUSE!!

Using an shoe and striking a child in the head could cause brain damage. A open hand on the bottom is OK

Answer 10

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.

Answer 11

OMG yes you are. I understand a child getting spanked and think in some cases its a good thing. But, to hit a child across the face ever and with something is just not right. I hope that the child was taken away from the parent and the situation was delt with.