Too Far

So, one of the greatest football players to ever throw on the football uniform of the Minnesota Vikings is guilty of the very same act that my loving parents felt was the proper discipline for me. My parents, and most if not all of my peer's parents, walked about town as if nothing was wrong. Is it wrong to discipline a child? Is it wrong to strip a "switch" of it's leaves so that it can be used to redden the the skin of a misbehaving child? Is it wrong to give a child a "whooping"? Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is has been charged with one count of injury to a child with reckless or criminal negligence. He "whooped" his kid for pushing his brother off of a bike. I first heard that it was a video game. It's kinda funny how these things change as we move along but it was kid's stuff. Kid's stuff that couldn't remain as simply kid's stuff. The kid is 4 years old. At what age is it ok to "whoop" a child? Is it ever ok to "whoop" a child? When I was a child it was certainly ok. As far as I could tell it was even encouraged. Talks of the tools of the trade were heard by the kids questioning their next offense. A switch? A belt? A wooden spoon? An open hand? It didn't really matter. They all hurt the same. I always felt that I deserved every "whooping." I felt that then. I feel that now. If I had a kid, I wouldn't "whoop" him or her. I'd like to think that I wouldn't have to. But, I don't have a kid. It's far too easy to say what I would or would not do because I don't have to make that decision. Adrian Peterson disciplined his son in the manner that he knew. He felt that it worked for him so he's doing the same. Is that wrong? Today, it is. And most days.

This isn't about football. I've tried to avoid non-football topics about football because it takes away from the sheer blast that is football. The game of football. The cloud that always seems to hover around the game isn't such a blast. From 1920, til now, there's always something. Adrian Peterson is one of the greatest football players that I've ever seen. In honoring the football player I have to accept the man. Last year Peterson lost a son to child abuse. An asshole went too far and that son is no longer with us. Disciplining a child with a "whooping" may be what Adrian Peterson knows. It may be the manner in which he was raised. But, he should know better than most how quickly this "normal" situation can get very, very wrong. Too many bad things can happen to a child when a parent didn't mean to.