Once in awhile I get bored and watch Cops on www.hulu.com. Today is one of those days.
One of the incidents is a call about a mother and son fighting. They are in Lee County Florida.
The teenage son is put in cuffs and the squad car as they try to figure out what went on. By his own admission he had a camera, didn't know if it was his, he was gone for 2 days, came home with the camera in his pocket. Mom asked for it, found it in his pocket, etc...
You all know THAT drill.
The officer SHOCKED me. According to this officer the fight falls under the domestic abuse statute for FL. A parent has the right to discipline a child in whatever way. The child cannot hit, push, shove, etc... the parent. PERIOD.
In MY state I have the legal RESPONSIBILITY to use corporal punishment with my kids. It is actually stated that way and has been enforced in my county (usually with parents who let their kids run wild with-o making any attempt to change their behaviors - corporal punishment or otherwise).
However, my state does not even RECOGNIZE that a child can abuse a parent. I have been told this by officers at just about every level and by two judges. It is NOT considered domestic violence/abuse for my son to hurt me. It is for him to hurt a sibling, but not a parent.
I was kind of surprised to hear this officer tell the mom not to get too upset, that her son made a CHOICE to put hands on her, that he sure didn't have to push her, or get her on the ground and put his hand on her throat.
It was nice to hear that SOMEWHERE the law is recognizing that some kids abuse parents. It is also nice to hear that they understand that as a parent you have to discipline a child, even though often it doesn't have to be physical. (All this mom did was try to get her camera out of his pocket when he refused to admit he had it and she could SEE it. Shades of about a million fights we have all had with our difficult children, isn't it?)
Coming from a state where the judge and officer refused to write any sort of incident report up when I was attacked by Wiz, it is nice to hear that parents SOMEWHERE have more resources under the law.
Does it surprise any of you to find the situation I described in the show falls under domestic abuse?
One of the incidents is a call about a mother and son fighting. They are in Lee County Florida.
The teenage son is put in cuffs and the squad car as they try to figure out what went on. By his own admission he had a camera, didn't know if it was his, he was gone for 2 days, came home with the camera in his pocket. Mom asked for it, found it in his pocket, etc...
You all know THAT drill.
The officer SHOCKED me. According to this officer the fight falls under the domestic abuse statute for FL. A parent has the right to discipline a child in whatever way. The child cannot hit, push, shove, etc... the parent. PERIOD.
In MY state I have the legal RESPONSIBILITY to use corporal punishment with my kids. It is actually stated that way and has been enforced in my county (usually with parents who let their kids run wild with-o making any attempt to change their behaviors - corporal punishment or otherwise).
However, my state does not even RECOGNIZE that a child can abuse a parent. I have been told this by officers at just about every level and by two judges. It is NOT considered domestic violence/abuse for my son to hurt me. It is for him to hurt a sibling, but not a parent.
I was kind of surprised to hear this officer tell the mom not to get too upset, that her son made a CHOICE to put hands on her, that he sure didn't have to push her, or get her on the ground and put his hand on her throat.
It was nice to hear that SOMEWHERE the law is recognizing that some kids abuse parents. It is also nice to hear that they understand that as a parent you have to discipline a child, even though often it doesn't have to be physical. (All this mom did was try to get her camera out of his pocket when he refused to admit he had it and she could SEE it. Shades of about a million fights we have all had with our difficult children, isn't it?)
Coming from a state where the judge and officer refused to write any sort of incident report up when I was attacked by Wiz, it is nice to hear that parents SOMEWHERE have more resources under the law.
Does it surprise any of you to find the situation I described in the show falls under domestic abuse?