# mother turned child in to police **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 27, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665 "2009-12-27T01:49:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/21 "2009-12-28T13:17:39Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > The law applies to everyone and people should report suspected violators of the law whether they’re their family or not. > [@panache45](#): > > Unless, of course, it’s an unjust law. Not all laws are morally equal. Right, and of course some laws are deliberately written so that they only apply to certain people (example: [Nuremberg laws](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Laws)) or apply disproportionately to certain people (example: [poll tax in Southern US states](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_tax#Tax_on_voting)). ---
**Author:** ![kdeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b487fb/32.png) [@kdeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kdeus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/22 "2009-12-28T13:34:39Z")
I just took my cub scout den on a “meet & greet” tour of our local police station, which was awesome (thank you, Prince George’s County (Maryland, USA) Police Department!). While I would not dial 911 for discipline, I would certainly feel comfortable arranging a tour, cell visit and “come to Jesus” talk with one of their officers if my kids were on the wrong path. It is easier to build a boy than to mend a man. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/23 "2009-12-28T14:24:46Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Wow. You are still legally allowed to **beat** your child? The only cutoff against abuse is leaving a mark? Wow. > > Besides, beating a child is not discipline. It doesn’t teach them anything besides negative things. > > If the only discipline you can think of is violence, then that speaks volume against your pedagogical knowledge, and means you aren’t fit to raise a child, either. I suggest you write to the Mississippi Department of Education, then. About two thirds of the districts in this state still paddle children. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/24 "2009-12-28T18:26:52Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Are you serious? Did you actually believe that spanking wasn’t legal? Well, I heard that there are laws against child abuse in the US. Over here, that includes beating (or the euphemism for it, spanking). > [@](#): > > And if you had actually read the post you quoted, you would have seen: “You have **a world of lawful options** available to you, including spanking them severely as long as you don’t leave a mark.” The bolded portion of the quote belies your summary that the “only discipline” the poster could think of was physical. > > Which leads me to infer, subject to your correction of course, that your objection was to the physical act of spanking, and not to the fact that it was the only discipline being used. Is this the case? No, my objection is not to the physical act of spanking (huh? Why would I be opposed only to the act?), it’s the - to me appalling fact - of listing the beating = physical abuse of a child mentioned as lawful option; it’s the mindset that still - in 2009! - believes that beating is not only a lawful option, but a good method of discipline (otherwise, the poster wouldn’t have mentioned it); it’s the use of an euphemism like “spanking” to disguise the severe physical and psychological abuse that a beating is. I’m opposed to all those. And the post didn’t mention any other measures - the only example given was spanking. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/25 "2009-12-28T18:27:25Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > One thing no one has mentioned so far about this story: the mom turned her kid in for a piddlin’ $30 reward. Methinks there was more to her motives than just an attempt to teach her kid a lesson. She apparently was rather insistent on getting the reward. I don’t think she has her priorities straight. I thought we were talking about an interview I saw on the news where this woman had turned in her six year old to the store manager for putting some stickers under her coat. She had the manager call the police. I didn’t hear any mention of a reward. You know, a link would be good. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/26 "2009-12-28T19:56:23Z")
I applaud said mother. The child is going to learn with great reinforcement what the mother will do. The mother is likely to continue to be an important person in the child’s life for decades to come. Do what mom says. Or mom will follow through for you. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/27 "2009-12-28T21:55:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > You know, a link would be good. Sorry, I missed that there was no link in the OP. I can’t find a link to the first version of the story I read, but this one says more or less what I first saw: [http://www.wtov9.com/news/22021761/detail.html](http://www.wtov9.com/news/22021761/detail.html) It seems now that she’s changed her tune after the story got some publicity, and she’s had second thoughts about demanding the reward: [http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local\_news/stories/2009/12/23/mom-turns-kid-in-to-police-for-shoplifting.html?sid=101](http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/12/23/mom-turns-kid-in-to-police-for-shoplifting.html?sid=101) Those kinds of rewards tend to be attached to _criminal conviction_ of the offender. I wonder if she really thought it through, was $30 a fair exchange for her daughter gaining a criminal record? Did someone manage to convince her of the true consequences after-the-fact, or was it just the general weight of negative publicity? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/28 "2009-12-28T22:02:19Z")
Good Lord, I guess it _is_ the same woman. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/29 "2009-12-28T22:02:21Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > …it’s the mindset that still - in 2009! - believes that beating is not only a lawful option, but a good method of discipline (otherwise, the poster wouldn’t have mentioned it); it’s the use of an euphemism like “spanking” to disguise the severe physical and psychological abuse that a beating is. I’m opposed to all those. There is nothing in **Cosmic Relief** ’s post that indicated he supports severe spanking. Assuming that he does is logically invalid. The whole point of his post, which he and others have already clarified, is that people that say parents no longer have options for legally disciplining their children are incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/30 "2009-12-28T23:01:39Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I applaud said mother. The child is going to learn with great reinforcement what the mother will do. The mother is likely to continue to be an important person in the child’s life for decades to come. Do what mom says. Or mom will follow through for you. I don’t know that I agree. It seems likely that a mother with a 6-year old child that repeatedly shoplifts may not be the type of mother that follows through on discipline in general. Good parenting is about consistency more than anything else. A parent that goes from no follow-through to extreme follow-through via the police is not acting very consistently. I admit that I am making a big assumption and that I may be completely wrong. But I think it is as reasonable an assumption as what you have laid out. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/31 "2009-12-28T23:29:01Z")
> [@The\_Why\_Bird](#): > > The last thing we want is for the child to have a terrifying experience with the police at a tender age. Plenty of time to schedule that later. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/32 "2009-12-28T23:33:53Z")
> [@kdeus](#): > > I just took my cub scout den on a “meet & greet” tour of our local police station, which was awesome (thank you, Prince George’s County (Maryland, USA) Police Department!). Could you pick a PD with more of a reputation for uninstigated mayhem? 🙂 I knew of it, and I still managed to get snared by it once. I wouldn’t let my kid talk to a cop in that county under any circumstances ever without an attorney present. ---
**Author:** ![annelions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@annelions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annelions)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665/33 "2010-01-01T19:48:17Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Well, I heard that there are laws against child abuse in the US. Over here, that includes beating (or the euphemism for it, spanking). > > No, my objection is not to the physical act of spanking (huh? Why would I be opposed only to the act?), it’s the - to me appalling fact - of listing the beating = physical abuse of a child mentioned as lawful option; it’s the mindset that still - in 2009! - believes that beating is not only a lawful option, but a good method of discipline (otherwise, the poster wouldn’t have mentioned it); it’s the use of an euphemism like “spanking” to disguise the severe physical and psychological abuse that a beating is. I’m opposed to all those. > > And the post didn’t mention any other measures - the only example given was spanking. Did you ever get spanked as a child? I’m guessing not and that you just “know” it’s the same as a beating. It’s not. True, once upon a time, kids would have to cut a switch and go “out to the woodshed” for their punishment, but THAT kind of thing generally doesn’t happen now. There’s a huge difference between a beating and a properly administered spanking. I was spanked, my younger brother was spanked - with a rolled up newspaper when toddlers and a few swats of a hand when older. We’re both fine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mother-turned-child-in-to-police/522665.md?page=1)