Running back Adrian Peterson calls it discipline.
Pediatrician Robert Sege calls it child abuse.
The Minnesota Vikings star issued a statement Monday defending the “discipline” he dished out in May to his 4-year-old son that left the boy’s legs and buttocks covered with welts and bruises.
“I never imagined being in a position where the world is judging my parenting skills or calling me a child abuser because of the discipline I administered to my son,” Peterson said in a statement.
But Sege, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, says Peterson crossed a line with the “whooping” he inflicted on his son.
“There is no question in my mind that this amounts to child abuse,” said Sege, also a professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. “This is beyond corporal punishment. Anything that leaves a bruise on a child is beyond the pale.”
A Texas grand jury indicted Peterson, 29, on a charge of reckless or negligent injury to a child last week and he faces up to two years in prison if found guilty.
In the statement, Peterson credited the success he has enjoyed in life to the fact that his parents weren’t afraid to spare the rod.
“Deep in my heart I have always believed I could have been one of those kids that was lost in the streets without the discipline instilled in me by my parents and other relatives,” Peterson said.
But Sege said corporal punishment at a young age undermines children. Spanking, especially when it leaves children bloody and bruised, traumatizes children and retards their development. It also makes kids distrustful of their parents, damaging the most important relationships in their young lives.
