Maybe my co-workers are just a bunch of dick heads.
I lost my appetite when a discussion in the lunch room turned to the mother who is being taken to court over disciplining her son with hot sauce and a cold shower.
The clip was part of a Dr Phil episode, and more infromation on the charges the mother's up against can be found here.
Now it's not the topic of conversation that disturbed me. It's the fact that my co-workers thought it was funny and nothing was wrong with what the mother did.
To quote one of them 'it was only chilli sauce' and 'seems like you can be charged for anything these days'.
I had to stop myself from punching him in the face. And I responded that if I EVER thought it was okay to make my child eat chilli sauce and then dump them in a cold shower, while they scream in fear and pain, then I would expect to go to jail.
There is NOTHING about this that is okay. And there is NO EXCUSE for this mother's behaviour. The mother feels this is the only way to 'discipline' the little boy because he is so naughty.
This child was adopted from Russia with his twin brother. And authorities are now investigating whether the boys should be taken away.
My opinion is yes - but that's me.
I understand we all have lapses in our tempers, and we yell when we don't mean to or we're impatient with our children. But I don't ever recall wanting to do something like this to our daughter. I can't recall anything that she has ever done or could do that would make me think this kind of punishment was appropriate. EVER.
My co-workers regaled me with tales of how their headmasters would beat them with a cane, or their parents would use a belt.
Is it any wonder there are people in the world who think it's okay to use physical violence to get a point across!? Is it any wonder why these practices are now ILLEGAL!?
It makes me so angry. I can't even put it into words. I want to scream at them that I think they're all insensitive bastards and that they can all go to hell. That I feel sorry for their families if this is the way they think children should be taught right from wrong.
Maybe I'm just not in the right frame of mind today, and maybe I should have stayed home.
Maybe I'm oversensitive at the moment, and I should have walked away and not paid any attention to their stupid and insensitive comments.
But I couldn't, and I can't.
If I were them, I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror.
