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Several years ago, in a department store, I saw a woman repeatedly slapping her four-year-old daughter. The little girl was trapped in a shopping cart, her offense was that she "kept crying." I asked the woman to stop, she screamed at me, I got the manager. Though he was young, he handled it amazingly well, telling her the store would not tolerate her behavior. In the meamtime, I called 911, telling them what was happening. I was told that the woman was not committing a crime.

If that woman had been hitting me, it would have been a crime. If she had hit the manager, it would have been a crime. How can it be legal to hit a defenseless child, but not an adult who can fight back? If we were to make hitting children illegal, in all circumstances, including "spanking," we could truly start teaching that violence is no way, and is indeed a very cowardly way, to discipline.

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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