My mom or dad would have done the same thing to me growing up if I had spit in one of their faces. I would have gotten popped so fast I wouldn't know what happened. Granted, I wouldn't do that to my skids, just because there are no telling what the repercussions would be from them or the BM, but if my own child did that to me, I wouldn't hesitate. Spitting in someone's face absolutely should not be tolerated. Whatever the case, just because he popped the kid doesn't mean he is a child abuser - it was probably a knee-jerk reaction.

Yepper, as a kid growing up, I wouldn't have considered spitting in anyones face, especially an adult and an authority figure or I would have been picking my lips up off the floor! Their is a huge difference between abuse and a firm pop in my opinion. Frankly, I think that the reason that kids are so out of control these days is because governments involvement in parental discipline.

Had one of my children spit in my husbands face. My husband would not have slapped them but when I got home from work I probably would have! And yep, I have popped my SD in the mouth when she decided to pop off and call me an "Fing B"! Tell you what, she won't say that again...

Giving a kid a well deserved fanny warming or pop up side the head is not abuse..

I swear. Growing up I would have had my ass handed to me if I even thought about spitting at someone.

It it so flipping sad to think as an adult we have to take that kind of shit from a kid and if we stand up for ourself or try to pop one swing, It's abuse.?????

Case in point. My BF tried to disipline the girls. He talked, he took things away from them and yes a few times put his hands on them. The girls screamed abuse. DK lets them do what ever they want. Now look at these kids. A sexually active 16 year old drop out, a 14 year old sexually active smoker who is failing 8th grade for the 2nd time.

Someone, please tell me where the answer is.

Proud Mom, I am so sorry the police are involved. That's so sad.

i was reading this and i just turned around and told my stepson that if he ever ever ever spit in my face i would slap him and then take him to the bedroom and spank him. my husband looked at me and said well you damn well better! and my stepson is such a nut. he tells me alright but dont slap me with your ring on k?

i take care of yours; respect me!

There's definitely a difference between discipline and abuse. This was a heat of the moment thing, but I would've popped my child on the cheek in a heartbeat, heat of the moment or not, for spitting in my face.

My son is 9 and maturing more and more every second, but he went through a stage recently that was just downright awful. He had discovered the art of "talking back" and had developed quite a talent for it. When he was 8, it was at it's worst and he was getting to the point where no one wanted to be around him because of his mouth. I'd asked him to do something one day and he started spouting off to me. Well, I'd had enough. I popped him on the cheek. Not hard, but hard enough that it certainly got his attention. I haven't had a problem with his mouth sense. It's not about the physicality of the punishment or hurting the child, it's about grabbing their attention quickly in a major way when they've done something over-the-top. A child that age (6, I think) and who has an attention problem isn't going to sit still and listen to a long lecture about disrespecting parents and even if he did listen to it, he'd forget about it ten minutes later. But I'd bet dollars to donuts that he'll remember getting popped on the cheek!

~ Anne ~

Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice! -M*A*S*H (Sidney Freedman to the OR staff on dealing with stress)