Recently one Florida dad felt the need to paddle his 12-year-old daughter for getting in to a heated argument with her sister. To make sure it legally wasn’t considered abuse, he called the local Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office to come supervise the corporal punishment. They sent out a deputy who watched, determined it was legal, and left.
“It’s within statute for them to discipline their children, and spank them. … You are entitled to paddle your child, whether you use you hands, you use a belt, you use a paddle. Within reason. As long as you’re paddlin’ the buttocks,” undersheriff Noel Stephen said to WLWT news.
According to Florida’s civil code, “Corporal discipline of a child by a parent or legal custodian for disciplinary purposes does not in itself constitute abuse when it does not result in harm to the child,” and The threshold for “harm” is unbelievably high, and includes cuts, burns, sprains, hemorrhages, broken bones, and disfigurement, among other things…
Apparently undersheriff Stephen has witnessed many of these corporal punishments, and says it’s a service they provide the community – if they aren’t too busy taking care of more important matters.
You can get a state by state list, including Colorado, of corporal punishment laws here.
What are your thoughts? Should more parents take advantage of this “service” or do you find it offensive?
