I thought watermelons were green. 
I wouldn’t call that abuse. I question about 90% of the parenting skills I see but it’s a whole different ball game when you are the parent. People are very different.
I had friends when I was a kid and the whole family yelled and screamed.
It didn’t seem to bother the kids one way or another. As much as they screamed, they were equally affectionate, hugging and kissing at a moments notice.
My parents never really yelled. You knew when they said it they meant it. But they were also very reserved, remote people. I never doubted my fater loved me but I can’t remember him hugging me or kissing me.
I really don’t think you can make judgements about anyone’s parenting skills based on a 30 second phone conversation.
I read today on Yahoo that Basinger’s attorney, Harvey Levin, admitted to releasing the tapes.
I think you misread that article, Lisa. Harvey Levin is the guy who runs TMZ, not Kim Basinger’s attorney.
You are so right, Jodi. That’s what I get for skimming. Thanks!
Then I don’t think your father’s temper is all that notorious. I don’t think I came from an abusive background but I cannot get how on Earth Baldwin’s calling his presumably bratty kid a “pig” is all that remarkable, much less over the top. Are all of you people saints who were raised by catatonics? Honestly, I think you are mostly coming off as hopelessly naive and inexperienced. I have been around truly abusive people and “pig,” for them, would be about the NICEST thing they’d call someone.
This is a total tempest in a teapot.
The man (God love him) once slapped me in the face so hard that my nose started gushing blood…so excuse me if I don’t find this opinion of yours all that meaningful.
Well, I guess I am naive and inexperienced because I don’t see how calling your child a pig and a daughter-of-a-bitch and saying they don’t have the “brains or the decency of human being” is anyway justifiable. That is abusive language in my opinion. It doesn’t mean that he needs to lose custody, but I believe in calling a duck a motherfucking duck.
When my dad slapped me that day, he was being abusive. I wouldn’t expect anyone to come running to his defense to say otherwise, including him. He’s a good dad, but he lost it that day. So did apparently Baldwin.
All that said, I have no idea why we should even care about this. It has no business being in the media. This is the first time that I’ve even paid attention to this.
In addition to not being very smartAlec Baldwin is an asshole.
This is not a discipline problem.
He was angry about a breakdown in communication. She didn’t take his call, for whatever reason. He may have been right in assuming that she was avoiding him on purpose, manipulating him, being manipulated, whatever. But this is a very, very bad way to react. It’s not going to bring him anything except further estrangement from her. I’m sorry to say that she is not obligated to love or even like him much, and certainly not if he behaves like this.
Comparisons to how parents react when their kids break rules, cause damage, won’t behave in public, are irrelevant. “Misbehaving” does not come into play when a child rejects (if she did) a non-custodial parent. I’m thinking more along the lines of “Waiting to Exhale,” when the bio-dad said, “If I don’t hear from him by noon tomorrow, I’m checking out. Literally and figuratively. When and if he wants to hear from me again, he’ll have to make the first move.” That’s how you handle this, not by screaming and yelling and calling your kid a pig.
This is not a discipline problem.
Well, I never said Baldwin was an abusive parent. He might be a great dad usually who just lost his shit. I do say, however, that this is an emotionally abusive thing to say to a 11 year old, especially a girl. I’ve never said that one instance of bad parenting = a bad parent. Which of us wants to be judged as a parent, child, lover, spouse, or friend by our behavior on our worst day? But while this one message alone isn’t proof that he is a bad father, it sure as hell isn’t proof that he’s a good father.
And I am inexperienced as a parent; I don’t have kids. But I do know myself pretty well, and I think I’m in a pretty good position to confidently tell you that while I may scream and yell at my kids, I will never directly insult them. It’s counterproductive, demeaning, and sets a bad example. My dad never did that to me, and I mean never. Feel free to consider him a saint on that basis; you wouldn’t be far wrong. 
A “God complex”? He is God!
Ask God how many shots of bourbon he had before he left that voice mail for his kid!
sorry - i am constitutionally incapable of leaving movie quotes unanswered. 
Great Malice quote! Boy I haven’t thought about that movie in ages. Good one!
**Tuckerfan ** started it!
I don’t think there’s enough information to draw that conclusion for a couple of reasons: (1) girls aren’t necessarily always more emotionally fragile than boys, and (2) 11-year-olds (especially these days) are not always entirely beyond all culpability.
I got that also- funny funny!
Early adolescence aged girls tend to develop issues with self-identity and self-esteem that are different from those experienced by boys of the same age. Is that true for every girl? No. But it’s true for a lot of them. It’s a tough age to be, if you’re a girl, and having your dad call you a pig would not be helpful. Moreover, there is no degree of “culpability” (fault or blame) that justifies an adult calling a child an insulting name. It doesn’t address the behavior; it doesn’t model good conflict handling skills; it’s personal, attacking, and a verbal slap from a person in power to a person who has much less power. It’s not “parenting,” it’s “losing your temper” – perhaps excusable but certainly not appropriate.
And the cricket chirping in the wilderness says, “Remember that this about his visitation/contact rights, not about her misbehavior.”
I’m sure he was upset that Ireland apparently blew off the call that he’d fought for the right to make to her. But would it not have been more constructive to call his lawyer and say, “All I got was her voicemail! I think the bitch told her to put me on ignore – what do I do now?” Or his therapist (ha) to say the same thing with more expletives? But the tirade would not have been directed at the person he was talking to (hopefully, unless he goes off on his lawyer the same way), and both those people would have been bound to confidentiality. (Yeah, I know; but they would have had nothing to gain by releasing the recording.)
“It’s not that bad…I’ve said worse to my kid…” Not in this context, I bet you didn’t. This is not how you hold your ground in a custody dispute. Try this.
Did not! It was Christopher!
Okay, the link won’t work, and it’s long anyway. Here’s the relevant bits: