Friday, 31 October 2008
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Pastor Charged with Felony Abuse for Spanking His Son
by mr palm
Thanks to angelbaby12487 for sending this in –
Barry Barnett, Jr., a pastor in Wisconsin, has been charged with felony child abuse after a teacher found that he had spanked his 12-year-old son. One of the child's siblings mentioned it to the teacher, who in turn reported the pastor to social services.
Barnett's son asserts that he deserved the spanking, which he received for continually lying to his parents. His doctor believes that the discipline was not abuse.
Should the pastor have been charged with child abuse or is this blown way out of proportion?
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Comments (94)
@bubbadirt@xanga - i definitely agree that spanking is wrong when a parent is angry. in that case, the parent will have to ask for more forgiveness from the child than the child from the parent.
He should not have been charged with "child abuse". Kids nowadays have no respect and sometimes they need a spanking or 2 to learn their lesson. I have been spanked as a child and it was a damn good thing too because if I hadn't been, I would've just did as I pleased without learning anything. And sometimes, words doesn't always work. Even if you calmly talk to them. I was really bad and when they tried to talk to me calmly, oooh boy, I ran away from you or hit you or, god knows what.
Spanking doesn't help anything.
If smacking an ass is the only way in which you can communicate with your children, perhaps that third jack and coke was a bad idea.
yeah in my family if don't do what your told you get spanked or worse yelled at
I have to agree that 12 years old is a little old to be spanking but.... after trying for over a year to get this child to quit lying the parents used spanking as a another option when grounding, sentances, not going to scouts, phone and other things were taken away didn't work. This was the ONLY time Mr Barnett spanked this particular son. Thanks for the encouraging comments everyone. Please pray for the family.
12 years is entirely too old to be spanked. I don't know the situation, but I know in my life, when we were older than say 6, my brother and I started fighting back which made my parents more angry and more violent. Good Christian elders too. I think it is very likely that the situation became extreme, and I think spanking is in most cases a form of abuse. Not a felony in most cases, but I do not think it is appropriate at all. I doubt the kid is learning the right lesson.
This child was adopted and had never had to follow rules before. He ran the streets and did his own thing. Now, he belongs to a family and now has to learn to follow the rules. He is very much appreciative because he now knows that his family has boundries of protection for him which means they care about him. They care about him enough to not let him grow up to be a lying person that nobody can trust. There is a difference between bringing up a child from birth and teaching them boundries then getting one when they are older and try reshaping those boundries.
@rangerzfan@xanga - I'm far from being some hippie-liberal-thing, but I think the child's mental and emotional state matters more than teaching the child a lesson by whacking him/her on the butt. Taking away privileges and grounding them does a fine enough job.
Good for him. Another piece of shit in this world who needs to be a pussy and hit their children.
I think thats absolutely ridiculous! Children need discipline, they need spankings and they need to learn that the world does not revolve around them.....IF you do not spank your children and try to teach how to be respectful, they will grow up being thankless, and think that they are entitled to everything. They will be the spoiled child with parents that do not love them and or care about them.
I think the key is not to spank a child when angry, for the child its just plain scary when the someone is angry and spanking them. Also there should be an age limit... like not into the teenage years.
I don't think a belt is a nice idea either... I got the belt numerous times... I don't think I learned respect from that... just fear.
also the last time I was spanked was when I was 15 and it was with the belt and my dad was really angry... its hard to block out that memory...::shudders::
@OsuwarInuyasha@xanga - The hard thing with having a legal age limit is that we uniformly define a child as any person under the age of 18. Canada has attempted to do this and it has resulted in a myriad of legal challenges. It becomes a dangerous path when we attempt to micromanage parental decisions based upon a child's age. I am not, of course, saying parents do not have the freedom to decide at what age to stop using spanking as a form of discipline; however, the law should apply evenly to all persons defined as children in this case.
The personal story that you shared seems excessive and I have never been an advocate of spanking a child with an implement at any age. Not to mention that the old adage of never discipline (spanking or otherwise) in the heat of anger always applies. Anger clouds judgment and clear judgment is the key element of parental decision-making. I'm sorry your father felt differently...I can imagine that would not be a good memory.
@robakamegansdad@xanga - Now look who's making generalizations.
@aznspartan94@xanga - To what are you referring?
I will say one thing going forward. If you want to continue to discuss this civilly, I am happy to do so. If your intent is to throw out random comments with no point of reference, accompanied by an accusatory tone then I am not interested.
@robakamegansdad@xanga - Oh look, another elitist adult attempting to humiliate another one of those inexperienced nuisances called teenagers.
." You're generalizing teenagers.
"You are a teenager, and, despite the fact
that you want to assert that you are very different from your peers,
you share one thing in common with them. You are right, you know you're
right, and nobody will ever convince you otherwise
As for worrying about me and not about my peers, I am only HOPING that some values still realized and respected by cool headed, responsible adults would be inculcated into the younger generations.
@aznspartan94@xanga - That statement was clearly not intended as a slander. As for it being a generalization, perhaps it is, though it is hardly the damning broad stroke with which you have painted your own peer group, whom you are now, inexplicably, attempting to defend. You could ask your own parents if they agree with my statement, by the way, to get an idea as to if it is an unfair generalization. Nonetheless, I cannot account for the fact that you took it as an insult. It is painfully obvious that you are upset that I provided factual evidence to discredit your opinion and you are now left with nothing more than fabricated indignation.
It is a shame that you believe I would attempt to humiliate you. As the parent of a teen, and as a parent who often jumps at the chance to defend her from insults based solely upon her age, I am rather bewildered by your assumption. It is all the more puzzling that you would make such a statement in that this very discussion was prompted by me defending people your age from your attack. Do you see the irony in you now calling me an "elitist adult attempting to humiliate another one of those inexperienced nuisances called teenagers"? When in fact, it is pure elitism to make such broad statements about other teens who do not behave in the manner that you believe all teens should behave. What is it about your upbringing that makes you an expert on preferred adolescent conduct? What is it that makes you an expert on the motives of other young people and the parenting practices of their mothers and fathers? What is it that makes your observations, conducted in the one tiny part of society in which you live, worthy of placing such contempt upon an entire generation? Talk about elitist.
@robakamegansdad@xanga - I think that definetly the parent should not be angry. Also I think spankings should be ending at a young age. My pastor spoke about spankings and when he stopped spanking his children and it was age 5(I had invited my parents to come to church... so they heard that). I thought to myself (10 years later).
I know that God disciplines too, I know that parents need to let their children be disciplined as well, because eventually we will all be grownups under God's discipline. I learned that I never want to be angry and I probably won't ever want to use a belt. I am married now, but have not had any children. My husband and I haven't really gone much into detail as to what we will do discipline wise, but eventually we will.
What is this world coming to? Although many people get it confused, there is a difference between disciplining and abusing children. Children need to be disciplined in love and protection. Abuse is not acceptable. This case is probably being blown way out of proportion though!