The case of a Hawaiian father who was sentenced to a year’s probation for telling his son to walk the last mile home from school as punishment for getting in trouble has sparked a national debate over the rights of parents to discipline their kids.
On “Fox and Friends” on Saturday, legal analyst Arthur Aidala argued the courts should stay out of discipline that doesn’t cross the line into abuse. And making an 8-year-old walk a mile doesn’t come close, he said.
The father, Robert DeMond of Kilauea, told authorities he was just trying to get his son to think about his acctions. Aidala said DeMond should be applauded for being a role model for his son, not punished for disciplining him.
“Why don’t we penalize the fathers who leave the kids?” Aidala said. “Why don’t we penalize the men who impregnate women and disappear off the face of the earth?”
Defense attorney Jonna Spilbor countered that DeMond was unnecessarily endangering the child.
“He dropped an 8-year-old on the side of the road. How ’bout put a sign to every child molester, ‘Come pick up my kid,’ because that’s the other part of this problem,” Spilbor said. Child molesters, she said, “prey on bad parenting.”
Check out the Aidala-Spilbor debate here, then see what some Twitter users had to say. (If you ever had to walk a mile to get to school and back, you can probably guess whose side they’re going to take.)
Twitter voices respond:
You’d think he had made his son walk on hot coals and broken glass. http://t.co/SgwVaUujAz — henrypeck (@henrypeck) May 30, 2014
This is BS. I used to walk a mile to check the mail! – Hawaii man gets probation for making son walk 1 mile home | http://t.co/oGKkkJXY42 — Grognard (@fiffergrund32) May 30, 2014
‘Old school’Hawaii father gets proba. for making son walk mile home.|You’ve got to be kidding. http://t.co/Mo2uD5HAGspic.twitter.com/vx5JzXl6Vk — Paul (@pdstewart_) May 30, 2014
Some Twitter users said the politics of the decision were clear — and ugly.
@pdstewart_ – sad to see parental authority undermined by the liberal courts… — Latino Townhall (@LatinoTownhall) May 30, 2014
@pdstewart_ The father’s problem is that he thinks it’s his child. It’s not. The child is community property. — gogman (@gogman) May 30, 2014
Sad, but true in some states of mind. And speaking of states …
@pdstewart_ Only in the Land of Obama! — Dave Wissehr (@TheFitWiz) May 30, 2014
True for Hawaii, maybe. Making the kid walk a mile in Rahm Emmanuel’s Chicago might be murder.
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