You are here

O/T Georgia Paddling Incident

Learning to Stepparent's picture

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/georgia-school-paddling-case-highlig...

Did anybody see this? There are so many facets to this. While I don't think paddling should be done in school, I also think this mom has an agenda and needs to pull her head out of her butt. Her facebook page is.....interesting.

Comments

kathc's picture

I read something about her claiming she was there. Watching. But "couldn't stop them"

Is she f&&&ring serious!

She damn well could have stopped them. You grab your child and leave. What, was someone holding a gun to her head?

She's got an agenda. And she's using her kid to forward it.

Learning to Stepparent's picture

I have read a couple of different stories and from what I understand the mom had been arrested for truancy once already because the kid has had 18 absences from school. She claimed they were due to a medical condition but couldn't produce any paperwork or doctors notes or anything like that. She is now saying the school gave her a choice between suspending him and paddling him and she figured if he missed any more school she would be arrested again so she gave permission for the paddling, signed the consent form and everything.

I'm not real sure how you can sign a consent form, sit there and watch it, then later say you were forced and didn't have a choice.

CompletelyPuzzled's picture

The article I read said that the kid had missed 18 days of school! So the school administrators told her to let them paddle the kid or they would suspend him. The mom had already been in jail for truancy. She stood by and watch them beat her kid b/c she didn't want to go back to jail.

First of all, why did the kid have 18 unexcused absences? She wouldn't have been in this predicament if she sent the kid to school.

Second of all, she could have stepped in and stopped this, especially them holding the kid down.

If that would have been my kid, I'd have taken sitting in jail over watching someone else hit him with a paddle.

It sounds like this mom isn't much of a parent. Plus, why is corporal punishment even still allowed in schools? If a kid needs a spanking, that should be the parent's job. The whole thing was ridiculous.

Learning to Stepparent's picture

I glanced at her facebook page, that was.....interesting. I especially like the picture the mom posted of her son flipping the bird at the camera. There is another one of the mom nursing a baby, the boy flipping off the camera, and her chugging on a beer.

She claimed they were jokes and the boy was "expressing himself" and she didn't see a problem with it. Mmhmm....klassy.

She also has a page called "Justice for Thomas Berryhill" to give more attention to the paddling incident. There are some interesting comments calling her out. One is from a woman in a group for parents of kids with ADHD and she is claiming the mom was a member of this group and told the group that the boy had been paddled at school but she didn't know about it until she found the bruises on his butt, which were of varying ages by the way, and then come to find out not only did the mom know he got paddled but she filmed the entire thing and is now making a big stink over it. This other mom wanted to know why she lied about the bruises and where they actually came from.

thinkthrice's picture

Both the mom and the kid should be paddled.

We had corporal punishment when i was in school. You'd get punished in school
Then you'd go home and tell your parents about it after the fact.

Amazingly by today's standards , your parents would back the school and punish you again. Funny thing was that generation turned out the most law-abiding respectful productive mature non narcissistic citizens ever.

Learning to Stepparent's picture

My policy has always been if you get in trouble at school, you get in trouble at home too. Of course, with BD10 we haven't ever had any issues. She got put in time out once in kindergarten for dumping popcorn on the floor just so she would have something to clean up. I didn't have the heart to put her in time out at home for that but I did talk to her about it. SD6 is another story. She does get punished at home for the stuff she does at school.

An acquaintance of mine once told me not to ever tell anyone that I punish the kids at home if they have already been punished at school because that is child abuse. Her kids are absolute hellions so I don't know what meaningful advice she has to offer.

Learning to Stepparent's picture

And "excessively tardy" about 20 more times. I don't know what is considered excessively tardy but I'm guessing it wasn't 5 or 10 minutes.

AlreadyGone's picture

It's ironic if you really think about it. So many parents these days don't actually parent, (better to be your kids friend) so they expect OTHER members of society to parent for them, (school, clergy, police, social workers, etc.) BUT, they still want to dictate HOW the child is to be raised (parented.) LMFAO! The fix is so simple.... do your job at home, and other people won't have to. :O :? }:) Sad

SecondGeneration's picture

Sorry I cant move past the fact that this is a 5 year old!!! He cannot be held responsible for getting himself to school, thus any tardiness is solely on mum.
Not sure about schools in the US but here when you drop off a 5 year old they walk past the school gate, thats watched by teachers and no child is allowed back out the gate. At the start of the school day the gate is locked to ensure no child can leave unassisted.

I am not against spanking a child, but I can count on one time the amount of times my parents raised a hand to me, and it was certainly never for something that I myself had no control over.

I do not care what this boys other "behavioral" issues are, by stating the preference for hitting the kid for his tardiness rather than prosecuting the mother, they have lost all respect and all good faith.

That mother ought to be ashamed of herself.

Learning to Stepparent's picture

He wasn't being paddled for being tardy. This whole thing was over his behavior problems. The mom was given the choice between having the kid paddled or suspended and she thought that since she had been told if he missed any more school she would be arrested for truancy again she opted for the paddling. I think it has since been established that the school officials absolutely did not tell her she would go to jail if he was suspended but I could be wrong about that.

He was paddled for hitting another student, running away from staff and spitting on the staff.

Disneyfan's picture

So, one ADULT is going to hit a 5 year old CHILD with a wooden object, while another ADULT holds him, in order to teach him that hitting is wrong. :? :? :?

Someone should hit those "adults" with a few fists.

If the "professionals" in the building can't figure out how to handle a 5 year old hitting, maybe it's time for thrm to find a new job.

Learning to Stepparent's picture

I didn't say I support what happened. I was just correcting the PP about why he was being paddled.

FrenchPeas's picture

This woman is white trash and did this for a pay out. I watched the video. She's a dumb ass. And sounds stupid as hell. Who cares.

Besides. She got arrested for not taking her kid to school.
The kid is a terror
She's the one that assumed she would go to jail. No one said that to her from the school.
She's lazy, obviously.
I never saw the kid take the lick. I saw him have a cow about it.
No one abused him or even held him firmly as he was all over the place
You're looking at a psa for what is wrong with kids today. Only that real problem was the one doing that video recording. Idiot

Hennypenny's picture

I went to school in the Deep South for a few years. Paddling happened all the time. It was pretty ritualistic, in that the teacher would get the principal, who would bring in the wooden paddle and bring the offending student to the front of the class. The actual corporal part was quick, and didn't really hurt. But the memory of "getting paddled" stayed with you, and there were very few repeat offenders. Although I'm guessing this kid will be one

Stepped in what momma's picture

I got paddled all the time, can't say one way or another if works but would assume since it happened at least 3x a year until 5th grade that it didn't work OR that my big bubble butt paid off with all the padding. Smile

I was angry about my home life and took it to school with me. I moved past it once my mom got me help with my coping skills.