Wal-Mart Toddler Abuse

Hannah,

I was shocked by this story. The only people who have a right to discipline a child (and my definition of 'discipline' doesn't include hitting) are the child's parents (or people the parents have entrused the child to, such as grandparents). While we may be frustrated with a whiny kid, we cannot take it upon ourselves to do a parent's job, even if we think the parents aren't doing their job right.

This story reminds me of something that happened to my cousin. She was on an airplane when her baby started crying.  A lady a few rows in front of my cousin turned around and said, "Can't you shut that kid up with some drugs or something?" While I've often been frustrated by crying children, what this lady said was just rude and insensitive. Parents of crying children already feel embarrassed and sorry that their child is causing a disturbance in public, so there is no need to make their life harder.

Keep up the good work!

This man obviously grew up in an abusive family because not very many people go around slapping other people's children.  I also heard of this story before reading and I was actually surprised that his sentence was that short!  If I were the kid's parents I would want him in jail for awhile longer to teach him restraint.  We all know how annoying kids can be sometimes but it is all a part of growing up.  The only plus side of this story is that the kid that was slapped probably isn't as annoying as before...but maybe a little disturbed/frightened/traumatized too

Dear Hannah,

Thank you for this post. I can't believe that anyone would want to hurt a child. This man must have some sort of mental problem. hitting a child in general is wrong let alone over a little noise. I think that his sentence fits the crime very well. i find it hard to believe that there are people who think that his sentence is to strong. Keep up the great posts.

-Ross

 Hannah,

Great post topic. I think that it is disgusting what this man did and he should be punished as he was. I agreed most with the sentence, "We have all experienced that annoying kid that won't stop crying, whether it's in a store, on an airplane or just on the street, but to get so upset about it that you need to resort to violence is completely unnecessary. " 

We really all have experienced this situation but I am sure that none of us has ever resorted to violence. I feel like I hear more and more of these stories and something needs to happen so that this idea that violence is okay is shut down.

Thanks for the post,

Alex

This is crazy! Where was the boys mother? Was she not with her child? And why did she not stop him the 1st time her child was being slapped? I can't believe that... If a strange person is going to warn me about my child's crying and what her will do i will defend my child and tell the person off. As of the people standing around, they just watched as this man hit this poor kid? People today are unbelievable.

i don't understand how someone can watch that happen, i mean we always see a mother hit her kids in public but that's her child she's punishing not someone else's kid.

For the people who basically took his side just because he was an old man are crazy! Let someone slap your kid around cause they crying.. he got what her deserved and as for the mother of this child, she could of protected her kid way better.

Thanks for sharing this.