Public Opinion Says Punishing Kids With Hot Sauce Is Child Abuse [INFOGRAPHIC]

When people actually decide to read a book for a chance, and understand that their parents didn't do everything right.

yeah, that is a little mean, why not just make them eat something totally gross like liver and onions?

I really don't think that would discipline her child. He'll eventually hate her & won't listen to a thing that she says.

Excellent point. Raise a child properly, they will respect you. Push them too hard, they will fear & resent you. I hear too many abusive bully parents talking about how "great" the kids they tortured turned out as adults. Don't confuse respect for terror. There's a difference between making you proud because they respect you and performing well to avoid wrath.

Hot sauce goes here..

It isn't quite child abuse but it also isn't very creative, or wise. Certainly you can think of better punishments than this for your child. How about something that actually has a positive effect, for instance, forcing them to watch Cspan or PBS or an educational documentary and write an essay about what they saw and why it matters on a friday night when they want to be hanging out with friends.

Or making them do research on the origins of the dirty words they may have said, and make them give some clear examples of point in history when words escalated to deadly conflicts. Make it a learning experience

Makes more sense to me than wasting perfectly good hot sauce

There is nothing wrong with PBS... my whole family loves that station. I grew up watching some of the shows on there and learned a lot from that station. It is a lot better than most of the other channels that are out there.

PBS is great. Being Gen X, I grew up on Sesame Street. The best part of Mr. Rogers was when he would go to factories and show how random stuff was made. Even as an adult, you wondered "how do they make crayons and tubas?" The show "How it's made" on Discovery is basically the same idea.

Oh yea! Remember Mr. Body? I loved that show, and the Nova show... I was so mad and disapointed when they stopped showing them. Espially, Nova it had wonderful science stuff. I actually did some of my science report on that show; instead of doing the resuarch I was suppost to do. I recorded it while my parents were not looking or while I was at school and watch it when everyone was sleeping and then do my homework off of it.

I agree, there is nothing wrong with Cspan either, its just, for a majority of kids, it is not the first thing they would turn on if given a choice. I agree that it beats 99% of the garbage on TV anymore.

You mean proactive parenting? Turning a negative into a learning situation? Why, this might actually make better people, but don't let the old schoolers hear this. They'll call you a soft-liberal and use incorrect bible quotes to tell you why you should torture your kids. I mean, with your method, your child would not only become more respectful, but would also become more literate as well. Who knows? With all of the critical thinking skills they pick up with your method, they may actually get into a good college and get a great job someday.

Bravo to you for realizing that parenting is a full time job.

Hey, I am not old, I am 32 years old, and I have suggest that to my wife for now on when my kids do something worth being punished on, they need to do a report on it, or I add to what their teachers have given them for homework. They hate that, I am sure, but hey, I am abusing them remember.

All good ideas when you think of it but this ''thing'' was obviously on one big power trip. Some people instill fear into their kids to make them compliant--the upshot of that is that the child withdraws into themselves--not good.

Not all childern turn inward after being abused in life. Granted most may, but not all. I didn't. But, I didn't get hotsauce put in my mouth either. I read a news paper article one time, oneone was sueing this kids parents that were sueing their parents for slapping their kids on the bottom. Because they did in the store. The kid wanted something and the parent said no, but the kid was throwing a fit because of it. So the parent slapped the kid on the bottom twice and said to cut it out and you are still not getting it. The kid was stil crying, and the parent did not give in to the child because he was. Then the next day the parent gets a police at her door aresting her and taken her kid to child protective services due to abuse. Is this a just case I ask?

I see where you are coming from Sil--i really do--i can only say with all honesty that the world appears to have gone totally bonker's--or at least the people on it!!

ABUSE! What a way to induce trauma! ... But I love harley oldman's comment of South Louisiana haha, that was funny.

hot sauce is no way to punish a child. And cold shower on a 8 year old? What the hell is wrong with people? Of course its abusive! How is a child suppose to grow confidence when his own mother(his number one teacher)(and roll model) is belittling him? Poor kid..The mom looked like a cave women..could explain that behavior. Grrrrr that made me soooo mad when i saw it on the news.

61% of dads say it's cool to force hot sauce on kids and only 32% of moms. Interesting seeing that it was a mom who did it in the first place. I guess she's part of that 32% and they're all losers too!

They haven't been down here in cajun country.

So parents, when you feel you have to threaten your kids with something you think would be a horrible punishment, be prepared to carry it out. If you threaten your child with a consequence because of disobedience and they continue being disobedient, be prepared to follow through or the behavior will get worse because your word means nothing over a short time. They are kids learning where the boundaries are and are pushing the boundaries all the time. So watch YOUR mouths. Don't threaten. Tell them exactly how they will be punished and do it. Make the pain of the sin worse than the pleasure of it. That might be taking away a toy, privilege, playtime and/or spanking. You know your child--or you should. (If there are natural consequences--don't go overboard and punish again.) Be the controlled, guiding parent, not a reactionary one.

I have to laugh at Harley oldman's post. Same with my son--he LOVEs the hot sauce! He often sneaks it from the cupboard just to eat it, and he puts it on everything he eats. This would not be a punishment to him that's for sure. lol..

It's horrible what that woman did. I think they should do it to her so she'll know what it feels like. We'll see if she ever does something like that again!!!!!!

My two year old actually likes hot sauce on his food.....he likes hot things for some reason, so this wouldn't really be a good punishment idea for me. I think that this is child abuse! I mean, can't hot sauce kill away all your sense of taste or something? That's what I heard anyways. Too much straight hot sauce and that kid probably won't be able to taste a thing! (poor child! That mom gets what she deserves. How bout the prison guards poor some hot sauce in her mouth everyday she's there too. Might be a better punishment if you ask me.

you don't know what psychological damage has been done to that child. I would say that they need to send the kid to live with his father (the report said that she still had custody) and if she still wants to see him then under supervised visitation where a social worker can pull the plug if her behavior becomes dangerous.

When me and my brothers got in trouble at school we lost privileges for varying lengths of time depending on the offense (for example 1 month no TV for fighting or 2 days no dolls for talking in class we would loose everything except books if we lied about the offense and the punishment was longer too) we also had to write a letter of apology to the teacher and any classmates that may have been affected. It worked, we learned quick that if we wanted to do what we wanted and have fun then we had better behave. I don't think that I was out of Kindergarden before I got the idea.

A variation on waterboarding!

Child abuse for sure.

Definitely child abuse. I saw the footage, the poor kid was gagging and almost throwing up. What if he choked? And when he was in the shower she was screaming at him and he was crying and coughing-probably choking on the ice cold water. The psychological damage she is doing is gonna take a lot of counseling to fix. There are more humane ways to discipline a child.

Yes, he could have died. And then she REALLY would have been in trouble. If I was the father I wouldn't allow that woman near our kid for anything.

I agree a 100% with what you had to say..It bothered me as well and it is abuse!

There are some who are allergic to the peppers used in hot sauce and can die from it.

I'de say whether or not it is abuse depends on the amount of hot sauce and how hot the sauce was.

Food shouldn't be used as a punishment, no matter what. Food is for eating, not choking children with.

So, don't let wealthy, male college grads babysit your children.

It's not child abuse... it hardly is. Jeez.

And for you to make a comment like that it just shows what kind of complete and udderly moron you are.

My dad did that to be me when I was little. I find the cold showers to be going overboard but hot sauce is nothing. Compared to the kids who are beaten? Neglected? Starved? Raped by their parents? God.. you sound like the moron.

Darn......I am always seeing the main story AFTER the data compilation!

For the record, the woman did nothing wrong other than being filmed.

I don't think this is totally accurate. I voted on this poll they are talking about, but it was so vague. I didn't think the hot sauce part was abuse. What I thought was abuse was screaming at him while forcing him to take a cold shower, and basically berrading him the entire time. I voted abuse because I thought it was mental abuse.

This is too cruel, it is just a child, eight years old is not entirely sensible, how this method can be used to punish him? This will leave the shadow of his heart.