[Halle]

Originally Posted by blueash

For those who feel that a mouthy son deserves to be pummeled to preserve discipline in the home, you had better also believe that a wife deserves the same, and of course an employee at work and a server slow with a refill perhaps. NO ONE has any right to expect to be able to strike someone without legal consequences. There are well defined terms for what discipline constitutes normal and when it crosses the line to become abusive. The comment repeatedly made that you cannot physically discipline your child is completely wrong, but there is a line in physical discipline which when crossed becomes abusive. I don't care whether he spent all day doing paperwork that is absolutely no excuse for bruising your wife, your child, nor what I think some on this forum would believe is worse your dog.

Let the system work this out. There will be an evaluation of the incident and the family. That evaluation will, as it should be, kept private unless it needs to be included in any court proceedings. We all have our stresses, we all sometimes feel anger and have our button pushed. Hitting a family member out of anger is always wrong. If you don't share that I feel sorry for those who have to live with the threat of your next "justified" assault. Stop blaming the victim. Women don't ask to be raped because of how they dress and men have hormones that are hard to control. Stop blaming the victim. Teens don't ask to be beaten because of what they say and parents have needs for respect that are hard to control.

I agree, I also believe this was probably not the first such incident in that household or the mother would not have walked away.