SIMMONS: Spanking and abuse: Adrian Peterson underscores the difference

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The evidence on premier running back Adrian Peterson is damning, and he should voluntarily begin looking to indulge in a profession outside the NFL.

That was no mere spanking he gave a 4-year-old.

Employing a tree branch as his switch, Mr. Peterson “got him” in the scrotum, “got kinda good wit the tail end of the switch” on his legs but said, “Never do I go overboard!”

Those comments were Mr. Peterson’s own, texted to his son’s mom about the incident, which reportedly involved one child pushing another over a video game.

Before I go any further, though, let’s get a few other things in order straight away.

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

• Abuse: to treat (a person or animal) in a harsh or harmful way.

• Punish: to make (someone) suffer for a crime or for bad behavior

From the King James Bible:

• Proverbs 13, Verse 24: He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

There is no moral ambiguity that parents are responsible for disciplining children. That is to say parents — whether natural, foster or adopted — must draw boundaries and parameters for children to help them understand that misbehaving and rule-breaking and law-breaking have consequences.

Texas state law is rather permissive, allowing parents and teachers “reasonably applied” spanking, paddling and the like to discipline children. The accused’s intent figures into the legal equation as well.

Also during a series of texts, Mr. Peterson said his “kids will know, hey daddy has the biggie heart but don’t play no games when it comes to acting right.”

It’s easy to be judge and jury when daddy’s “biggie heart” leaves scars and texts behind as evidence of abuse, although an initial grand jury didn’t see things that way. The first grand jury declined to prosecute, but a second time around this month grand jurors leveled a felony child injury blow.

Clearly, Mr. Peterson admitted treating his 4-year-old son “in a harsh or harmful” and punished the little boy to make him “suffer for bad behavior,” as ascribed by Merriam-Webster.

To his misfortune, Mr. Peterson, 29, lost another son, a toddler, at the hands of the mother’s boyfriend in 2013, and Mr. Peterson’s own dad had reportedly spanked and physically disciplined him.

Let the record also show that the Peterson case has nothing to do with the Ray Rice case or any other case involving NFL players, or professional athletes, or student-athletes. Nor is it connected to the cases of parents who put hand, switch, paddle or ruler to rump to discipline a child.

In the case of Mr. Peterson, the accused already has handed over chilling facts. The era of social media is tempting and, as I stated earlier, Mr. Peterson damned himself by texting.

This self-described Christian may have misinterpreted some of the lessons in Proverbs, yet even during this legal adversity he can draw on what he told a broad audience during Christmastime 2012, a year after he endured physical pain and agony from an NFL injury in a Washington Redskins game. The interview was behind the scenes with CBN Sports.

“[Through] all the adversity and the hard times I’ve been through, God has always been present,” Mr. Peterson said. “I’ve always prayed to Him and asked Him to give me the strength to endure and to help others and to better understand the situation, or whatever situation I deal with in my personal life. And He has always showed up!”

It’s obvious Mr. Peterson doesn’t need to make a leap of faith, but he does need to make some non-NFL moves.

• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.