Child Rearing--Discipline or Abuse?

Adrian Peterson now has more attention for beating his children than knocking grown men out on the football field.

He left marks on a four year old, which seems excessive to many of us. Franky, it assaults our sensibilities.

But the public debate is larger than whethere Peterson abused his child or not. The debate is actually over whether corporal punishment is necessary or effective.

We've come a long way from public floggings, but  some thing that we've not come so far that we still don't need to pass out an ass whipping every now and again.

Some say a return to corporal punishment will provide some perspective for out of control children. Otherwise, let's get rid of the schools we complain about and leave the children at home. For every discussion about what the school
system needs to do, there needs to be a discussion about what parents need to do. And instead of simply looking to add more duties to an already overtaxed and nearly failing school system, we should place more of the focus on parental training.

After all, you have to learn how to drive a car, but no one is trained on being a parent.

There are a number of things that are wrong with the way we are leaving the world to the next generation, but the overarching problem with today’s youth is that some of them really do need hands placed on them.

Some kids may turn out fine with the permissiveness and timeout behavior modification methods, but others need their natural asses kicked.

Today's discussion on "The Bridge" will focus on discipline of children and examining the line between discipline and abuse. Co-hosts, Tracy Powell, Dr. John Hamilton, Marcus D. LeGall, III and DJ Gates weigh in.