'Dr. Phil' appearance nets child abuse charges(hot sauce & cold showers)

[RamboLiberal]

A defense attorney for Jessica Beagley entered a plea of not guilty to one misdemeanor count of child abuse at an arraignment hearing today in a packed basement courtroom in downtown Anchorage. Beagley did not appear in court, having earlier received permission from the court to let her attorney speak for her.

In the courtroom, there were at least four video cameras, including one with a TV crew from Russia, a crew from the Lower 48 rumored to be shooting for the "Today" show, and reporters from two local news channels. As they scanned the courtroom, the cameras seemed to unsettle some of those present, many of whom were charged with minor traffic offenses. At one point the cameras were trained on each other in a moment of dueling photographers shooting across the room. The media attention was a bit of "overkill," said Peter Ramgren, a representative from the office of Beagley's attorney, William Ingaldson. Ramgren said he'd never seen that many cameras in an arraignment for misdemeanor city charges. "I think it's pretty clear that none of this would be happening if it weren't for the 'Dr. Phil' show," Ramgren said, motioning to the multiple reporters interviewing him outside the courtroom. Ramgren defended Beagley. "She's a loving mother who cares very much for her child," Ramgren told the reporters. "One may not agree with her unorthodox techniques, but under the code, it doesn't rise to the level of child abuse." Cynthia Franklin, the city prosecutor whose criminal complaint states that Beagley's techniques were unreasonable, was also in court. She spoke briefly after Ramgren entered Beagley's not-guilty plea. "It's my experience that cases with video available to the public will generate lots of interest," Franklin said.

Child abuse charges filed against the wife of an Anchorage police officer arose from the woman's appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show, during which the audience saw a video of her disciplining her child with hot sauce and a cold shower, according to court documents filed this month.

The city's allegation against Jessica Beagley, 36, soon grabbed the attention of Russian news outlets.



Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/01/27/1670946/dr-phil-visit-leads-to-child-abuse.html#ixzz1CMYLk1pO

[Dogmudgeon]

1. What I don't understand ...

... is why so many parents think that any kind of aggressive act on their part is okay in all circumstances -- yet they can't understand why kids are so aggressive.

I don't have much anger toward Ms. Beagley. Raising children is a very difficult occupation. I'm talking more about the cultural background. It also empowers the police to arrest for even picayune offenses and judges to waste their time on them. The appropriate response to Jessica Beagley would be to politely inquire whether she needed any help with things.

Maybe it's just me ...

--d!

[Le Taz Hot]

11. You're not serious!

The appropriate response to Jessica Beagley is to put her miserable ass in jail and place her children somewhere safe. Cultural differences my ass. Abuse is abuse.

This is the test: Would she allow someone to FORCE hot sauce down her throat when she did/said something objectionable? The answer is obviously "no" so why would this same action be acceptable to do to a defenseless child?

As a victim of horrendous childhood abuse, I have NO compassion for these people.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. "As a victim of horrendous childhood abuse ... "

... you're not the only one.

And it isn't a license to rant to assert your (dubious) moral authority.

--d!

[LisaL]

16. She adopted this child from Russia.

As far as I understand, she already had four kids of her own. WTF did she adopt this kid for?

[Ian David]

2. Stinging Debate -- Parents Divided Over Practice of ‘Hot Saucing’ as a Form of Discipline

Stinging Debate -- Parents Divided Over Practice of ‘Hot Saucing’ as a Form of Discipline

Lisa Whelchel, who played Blair on the popular 1980s TV series Facts of Life, is an advocate and practitioner of "hot saucing." Whelchel, the author of Creative Correction: Extraordinary Ideas for Everyday Discipline, says the practice worked for her children when other disciplinary actions did not.

"It does sting and the memory stays with them so that the next time they may actually have some self-control and stop before they lie or bite or something like that," Whelchel said on ABC News' Good Morning America.

Whelchel says she would have never used hot sauce to discipline her three children if it caused lasting damage. The actress-turned-home-schooling mom suggests using just a dab of hot sauce, placing it on your finger, then touching your finger to the child's tongue.

Boston family therapist Carleton Kendrick says he is vehemently against hot saucing or corporal punishment of any kind.

More:
http://www.nospank.net/n-m92r.htm

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EBdtR7UK1kk/SbIc1E-6VNI/AAAAAAAAA58/CrtIkkaprrQ/s400/lisa+whelchel+-++all+because+of+you.jpg

[aikoaiko]

7. Is hot sauce the new castor oil?

:shrug:

I wouldn't do it to my five year old, but the idea of forcing your kid to ingest something to make him or her miserable is not new, I suppose.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. Probably less toxic than soap. n/t

[Raine]

10. Whelchel is one of those hardcore RW fundies

:puke:

[Gormy Cuss]

3. I'll volunteer to discipline that mother.

That's abusive because she made the son hold the hot sauce on his tongue for a least a minute and she's berating him while he's crying in the cold shower.

I'd like to see how she'd fare with that treatment.

[LibertyLover]

4. Years ago we had a German Shepherd puppy who was about

10 months old. As with many adolescents, he had become mouthy, which in his case meant that he would chew on things that were not appropriate, in spite of having plenty of doggy chew toys. My mom asked our vet what to do and the vet suggested that the next time mom caught the dog chewing on something inappropriate she put a drop or two of tobasco sauce on his tongue. So, mom went out and bought tobasco sauce and a day or so later found the dog chewing a shoe. She somehow managed to get a drop of tobasco sauce on his tongue and he, bright thing that he was, swung his head forcefully around to rid himself of the taste. Unfortunately in doing so his head connected with my mom's ribs and cracked a few of them. Mom died a few years back, about 25 years after the "sauce incident" as it came to be known in our house, still having the occasional problem with her ribs. From that I learned never, but never, but hot sauce anywhere but your own mouth.

[pipi_k]

5. Good. I saw that episode and it was sickening

Honest to god, I don't know how therapists can listen to the types of things they do and maintain composure. I don't think I would be able to. I'd want to jump out of my chair and throttle people like that woman.

I mean I know they're sick and all, but still.... :(

[chatnoir]

6. That video made me cry and sick to my stomach to watch

That little boy, an orphan, who has already suffered so much in his short life, for her to cruelly mistreat him so is monstrous. Her words speak volumes: "allowed to live at MY house" -- not his house or his family, as if he could be sent back at any time.

Ugh. ;(

[Mother Of Four]

9. As a mom....

I'm sickened by this. My kiddos are stair steps and I had some issues with my second son in elementary. He would see something he liked, pick it up and take it. He was in Kindergarten and 1st grade at the time.

I NEVER got in his face like that, even though he would lie to me about taking something. He was all of 5 and 6 years old, just like the little boy in the tape.

My discipline: Go to the school the next day and he would have to present the item he took, with a self worded apology. Eventually he put two and two together and learned that the embarrassment wasn't worth the item since he never got to keep it anyway.

Secondary discipline: I would go into his room at night while he was asleep and take something he cared about. Liam the Lion is the only specific one I remember. I recall he looked for Liam all morning, and was almost in tears when he came to me and told me he was lost. I went to the cabinet, and handed him Liam. Then said something to the effect of "It makes you really sad when you miss something you love, I wonder if the other kids in class felt that way when you took something from them?" The Liam time was the last time he took anything from anyone.

On the lying part. Welcome to parenthood, kids lie. They lie especially at that age because they only know they don't want to be in trouble. They don't understand that it's worse if they lie, all they know is that if you believe them it will keep them from being disciplined.

Even a 5 year old can understand the meaning of a promise though, and that's how I got him to understand lying. I would ask him "What if I were to promise you we could go to the park, but never went?" He said he would be sad. I would ask him "What if I always did that?" He answered something like he'd not believe me when I said we'd do something fun. I said "The reason you wouldn't believe me, is because I would have been lying. Telling you something that isn't true or real"

Then I would follow up with something like "It really hurts when people tell you things that aren't real doesn't it?"

[woo me with science]

15. Teaching empathy

is so much more important than giving rules.

I liked your post. :thumbsup: :hi:

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Oh, come on, people- this is just the kind of no-nonsense "tiger mom" discipline we need!

I mean, the Wall St. Journal practically drooled all over a woman for making her kid stand out in the cold for not practicing the piano, or for threatening to burn her toddler's stuffed animals, and for calling her other daughter "garbage".

We hear over and over and over -in all quarters- about how stupid yuppie "helicopter parents" coddle their little precious peanuts. "Everybody knows" American children are spoiled and self-centered.

Tiger Moms! Hot Sauce! Tough Love! Yay!

:eyes:

[Dogmudgeon]

14. Plenty of that here at DU, too.

It seems like half the world wants to abuse children, and the other half wants to abuse the abusers; each is socially and legally approved.

--d!

You want to strike back at everybody who has crossed the line with their child? We still have enough thermonuclear bombs to do it. I'd prefer to stop the cycle -- which includes screaming for punishment, and against anyone who doesn't see it the same way you do.