Kids, Discipline And The Adrian Peterson Debate

The NFL’s Adrian Peterson and the emotional debate underway about how far is too far to go when it comes to disciplining children.

Who ever imagined the National Football League would become the nation’s court of public opinion on how to live the domestic life.  But here it is.  First this season, Ray Rice and the terrible punch.  Now, the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson and the disciplining of children.  Texas authorities have indicted Peterson for going too far with a switch, a branch, leaving welts and broken skin.  Peterson says he disciplined his child the way he was disciplined, but he’s learned a lot and is re-evaluating his ways.  Much of the country still spanks, swats, switches.  Is it right?  This hour, On Point:  Corporal punishment, good parenting, and our kids.
- Tom Ashbrook

David Steele, NFL writer for Sporting News. (@David_C_Steele)
George Holden, professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University.  Board member of the Child Abuse Prevention Center in Dallas. Author of "Parenting: a Dynamic Perspective." (@DrNoSpank)

Elizabeth Gershoff, professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Goldie Taylor, opinion writer and MSNBC contributor. (@goldietaylor)

USA Today: Vikings deactivate Adrian Peterson indefinitely - "The Minnesota Vikings placed Adrian Peterson on the Exempt/Commissioner's Permission list, requiring the running back to abstain from team activities during his child-abuse case, the team announced Wednesday morning."

FiveThirtyEight: Americans’ Opinions On Spanking Vary By Party, Race, Region And Religion - "The arrest of Minnesota Vikings halfback Adrian Peterson, who is accused of abusing his 4-year-old son while disciplining him with a switch, has rekindled the long-running debate about corporal punishment."

Quartz: It’s time we reject the idea that beating our kids is part of black culture - "So, when a black man gets arrested for an act that is still ambivalently upheld by our country’s legal and moral codes, more than a few hackles are raised about the role race might be playing."