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Mother Convicted of Spanking Her Own Child

Judge has harsh words for Mom before sentencing her for spanking her kid

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (CBS) -- A judge in Corpus Christi, Texas had some harsh words for a mother charged with spanking her own child before sentencing her to probation.

"You don't spank children today," said Judge Jose Longoria. "In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don't spank children."

Rosalina Gonzales had pleaded guilty to a felony charge of injury to a child for what prosecutors had described as a "pretty simple, straightforward spanking case." They noted she didn't use a belt or leave any bruises, just some red marks.

As part of the plea deal, Gonzales will serve five years probation, during which time she'll have to take parenting classes, follow CPS guidelines, and make a $50 payment to the Children's Advocacy Center.

She was arrested back in December after the child's paternal grandmother noticed red marks on the child's rear end. The grandmother took the girl, who was two years-old at the time, to the hospital to be checked out.

Gonzales who doesn't have custody of the child or her other two children, is trying to get them back, but until CPS feels she is ready the kids are living with their paternal grandmother.

Sheesh, what a load of crap out of the mouth of the judge. Guess my dad would've serve jail time if he would've went in front of this clown. Btw, I for one am glad I got the hand or belt at home and paddle in school, I deserved it every time.

This is about the dumbest thing I have heard. Is there a law against spanking? I think not.

And "but there was a different quarrel"? What does that even mean?

ok... to play devil's advocate here...

This is a two year old. The child may or not be able at this point to refrain from involuntarily pissing themselves. In this case, spanking to the point of leaving any red marks is pretty pointless.

My stance is that I swat, I don't spank. When it's 10:00 pm and my kid has been doing just about everything under the sun except going to sleep since 8:30 PM, they get a swat... one swat. It gets their attention because it's not frequent or exceptionally painful. Does it make them go to sleep, prolly not.

a two year old that normally wears a diaper getting smacked in the bare arse repeatedly until marks are left that will be visible for a day? That's at best ineffective and at worst abuse. Should it be a felony? My opinion is no. Should it be a crime, yea, probably.

When I was a kid I got the belt. The pain was enough that you were always shocked how badly it hurt. There was the "go upstairs," mom and dad would talk about it, then after a few mins dad would come up and whack you with the belt 5-6 times and leave you crying in your bedroom.

My philosophy is that there are communication lines that you should open with the child such that they feel pain or regret when they disappoint you. That's the ideal and (just like spanking) doesn't always work.

I think there is more details to this case that are not coming out. The way both stories I read were worded led me to believe that the mother may not have been in legal custody of the child at the time? Or, read another way it was after.

I might have to agree with Pez on this; leaving marks on a 2 year old is a little excessive. However the judge is wrong in her statement that you don't spank. If the kid was older and did something wrong then yeah the parent has a right to punish that child how they see fit as long as there is no long term physical effects.