Texas Mom Rosalina Gonzales Sentenced For Spanking

Spanking children is a long time hot button issue for parents, but a Texas court just sent a warning to parents with a "spare the rod, spoil the child" mentality to change their ways.

Rosalina Gonzales was sentenced to five-years probation after pleading guilty to the charge of Injury of a Child for spanking her then nearly two-year-old daughter.

The Corpus Christi mom of three reached an agreement with prosecutors requiring her to take parenting classes and pay a $50 fine to the Children's Advocacy Center, reports KZTV10.

"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."

According to KZTV10 Gonzales was arrested last December after the child's grandmother noticed red marks on the girl's behind and took her to the local Children's Hospital to get checked out.

Gonzales currently does not have custody of her three children, who will remain with their paternal grandmother until the Department of Family and Protective Services agrees she is ready to have them back.

Courts across the country and beyond seem to be getting tougher on spanking -- especially when the child isn't your own. In April, 67-year-old James Freeman was sentenced to one month in jail and 11 months probation for spanking a two-year-old who tore tore up plants in his yard and ignored his orders to stop.

And in a seemingly more serious case, the Calgary Appeals Court in Calgary, Canada decided that a two-year probation sentence was inappropriate for Mark Anthony Harris who was convicted for assault with a weapon after he spanked his nine-year-old daughter with a belt. The Appeals Court ruled that Harris should serve nine months of jail time instead.

Quick Poll

Is It OK To Spank A Child?

Yes

No

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[Jason Ungar]

04:09 AM on 07/23/2011

As a stay at home dad to a 3.5 year old boy (since he was 3 months old) and an 18 month old daughter (since she was 1 day old) I find the idea of spanking wrong. And I am a parent who "knows" timeouts are useless as well at that early age (any age I think but that's another topic). But, if you can't figure out a way to deal with things without hitting someone (anyone) then I feel the person has a problem. And if the kids see that the parent can't cope by using words or other forms of discipline other than violence, how will they? If I walked up to you and spanked your ass (for whatever reason) you would call the cops probably. Discipline and spanking are two different things. But I agree that this punishment does not fit the crime. If there are two people in this big bad but wonderful world that a little child should feel safe around it should be their parents. It's amazing to me that the very last person we should ever hit are the only ones who legally we can hit (or at least I thought)

[goodvibrato]

03:30 PM on 06/27/2011

They never said how severe the marks were. So I can't say I agree with the judge unless I know the girl was seriously abused. Her grandmother apparently thought it was bad enough, but if it's just a few red marks who freakin' cares.

[fearlessfaith]

03:04 PM on 08/04/2011

"if it's just a few red marks who freakin' cares."

The child might. I'm wondering why you wouldn't care about a "few red marks."

[Slim Sammy]

05:38 PM on 06/23/2011

I’ve heard people venomously argue for spanking. I’ve heard people argue venomously against spanking. Regardless of moral, ethical, parental, or legal opinions, according to the law, it appears that the judge was wrong.

With the scarce about of facts available regarding this case, the mother should have her children returned to her immediately. The judge should review the law.

http://www.nccprblog.org/2011/06/foster-care-in-texas-issue-in-spanking.html

[Richard Wexler]

01:32 PM on 06/23/2011

I would hope even those against all spanking would acknowledge that there are worse things one can do to children than spank them – and high on that list is taking the children from parents and consigning them to foster care. Even removal to another relative, as in this case, is a severe emotional blow. Young children may believe they have done something terribly wrong and now they are being punished. How’s *that* for sending the wrong message?

So it’s no wonder that two massive studies involving more than 15,000 typical cases found that children left in their own homes fared better even than comparably-maltreated children placed in foster care. Details are on our website here: http://bit.ly/9MXDP9

That doesn’t mean no child ever should be removed from the home. But it does mean the threshold should be a lot higher than it apparently was in this case. And it should be a lot higher than it is for the thousands of poor families who lose their children when family poverty is confused with neglect, as described in this New York Times essay on the issue of turning child rearing preferences into law and then imposing that law on poor people: http://bit.ly/hWf2yQ

There’s more about this case on our Blog at www.nccprblog.org

Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
www.nccpr.org

[yogini4]

11:14 PM on 06/23/2011

But what they didn't talk about was the severity of the "spanking". As a former professional in child protective services, it is not my experience that children are removed unless abuse is fairly severe, which it often is. These cases are not reported to the general public. Severe spankings can cause nerve damage, shaken baby syndrome and other problems, not to mention emotional and psychological damage that is permanent.

[erincarty]

07:38 PM on 06/22/2011

A FELONY record. What prosecutor went along with this? How did CPS, that sees real abuse daily not speak up? What defense attorney didn't say fight like hell against this crap? And that judge...ugh! Is the whole justice system full of idiots?

This woman did NOT use a belt, and did NOT leave bruises.

What's going on with the grandmother, to take a child to the hospital for a spanking that didn't leave a bruise. Was there some dispute between them?

There's nothing about this story that doesn't leave you disgusted. From the absurdity of the charges, to the children losing a mother to be raised by a grandmother, to a judge ignoring the law to impose his own 'values', to nobody in the judicial system saying wth, this isn't right! At least the voters in that district may get a chance to make it right by voting out both the judge and the prosecutor who signed off on this idiocy.

[Crimson Wife]

02:28 PM on 06/28/2011

I agree that this is a case of a disgruntled grandma with a grudge against the mom. She probably wanted custody of the grandkids all along and this spanking was just the excuse she needed to make that happen.

[Kaye Gullett]

10:44 PM on 06/21/2011

I wrote to TX Gov and Attny Gen, Please write too:
I do not understand how the DA could have wasted taxpayer fund prosecuting this. I am highly offended that this obviously liberal judge took custody of her 3 children and punished this mother for loving her daughter enough to correct her. Several points:
1. The child is two years old and as any parent knows, a two year old can’t be disciplined by a time out.
2. The child had “red marks” on her bottom for a few minutes. There was no bruise or lasting damage. How does that constitute injury to a child?
3. Five years probation and the loss of all three children? The punishment should fit the “crime” and this does not. I can support Parenting classes. Parents who have seriously beaten their children and done less time. How much money, time, and grief is this going to cost this family? Is that a fair and just use of our legal system?

Bruising or welting a child is abuse and shouldn’t be tolerated. I don’t remember any law being passed that said spanking itself is a crime. “Judge” Jose Longoria apparently used this case to do a little social engineering. Yes, let’s make sure parents are afraid to discipline their child because they just might go to jail. I feel that Governor Perry should pardon Rosalina Gonzáles and return her children. Let’s vote the DA and Jose Longoria out of office!!!

[notakochdealer]

06:28 PM on 06/24/2011

I don't know if this judge is a liberal. I am a liberal and I think government needs to butt out of child raising. And I too think omg America is supposedly so broke yet we can waste money prosecuting trivial cases. Perry should pardon her but he wont.

[BoudiccaBlanc]

06:06 PM on 06/21/2011

Plea agreement........

It is not illegal for schools in Texas to paddle your child!

This woman got suckered!

Do I agree with spanking? No!

Nor do I believe that schools have the right to paddle a child!

If corporal punishment is required (which it isn't) I do not want a stranger striking my child with a hand, a paddle or anything else!

[onwisconsin]

08:59 PM on 06/21/2011

It is illegal for schools in Texas to leave visible marks on a child. That will, and should, result in a lawsuit.

[BoudiccaBlanc]

09:43 PM on 06/21/2011

"Leave visible marks" .....

Wow! That's right in line with the Mohammadan rules regarding wife beating!

Way to go Texas!

[ikidunot]

05:47 PM on 07/01/2011

I was spanked as a child. I spanked my children, and I strongly believe in spanking as a parent's option. But I agree it's wrong to leave visible marks on a child.

[onwisconsin]

09:57 PM on 06/21/2011

And by the way, I don't believe in corporal punishment at all. I just know educational law.

I don't even believe a parent should spank.

[BoudiccaBlanc]

10:23 PM on 06/21/2011

I don't think parents should spank children either.

Anyhow, it probably wouldn't hurt for the mother to take a parenting class. :-)


However, it is not against the law in Texas to spank (at least I don't think so).
I don't like to see double standards in the legal system. And, I would like to know what evidence was submitted as well as the relationship between the mother and the paternal grandmother.

Nice talking to you "onwisconsin" I like your cardinal avatar. :-)

[janeyre]

03:19 PM on 06/21/2011

Reminds me of one of my cousins and her daughter. The girl was a real pill... Rebellious and rude. Once she was given corporal punishment by her mother. The child went to school, told the teacher. The teacher told the authorities. They came and took the girl out of the home. Placed her in foster care. She then proceeded to climb out of her bedroom window and go to see her BF. Then she started bringing him into her bedroom window. Needless to say, she continued to be a real pill... Now she is grown, has been in and out of trouble with the law. Left Texas with a court hearing pending. Didn't go back. Is now a felon for not appearing. Has two children, was in a fight, got her head banged up. Has a plate in her head now. Can't use her short term memory, it doesn't work... Is shortly going on disability. Oh, she isn't yet 25 years old... Do I think this could have been avoided if her mother were able to use corporal punishment on her at the age of 10? I don't know... My children, were reared with the knowledge, if it became apparent, they needed more than a talk... Something would take place. Every six months, I had to use corporal punishment for my son. He wasn't beaten, nor was he abused. For my daughter, it was a look... Both are well adjusted adults...

[Robert SF]

08:07 PM on 06/21/2011

Socializing and imparting values and life lessons to your children doesn't start when they're 10 years old. That's the mistake too many parents make. They are absolutely uninvolved in their children (watch them yakking on their cells as they push their strollers down the street), treating them more as roommates, and then they can't understand why the child is basically a feral human being.

[onwisconsin]

09:02 PM on 06/21/2011

No, this child's issues could not have been solved by corporal punishment. It might have been helpful had she actually had some consistent parenting and then if that didn't work, perhaps some psychological intervention (perhaps for the entire family).

[Michael Morrison]

03:09 PM on 06/21/2011

Legislating from the bench.

[ikidunot]

05:51 PM on 07/01/2011

Simply put and on target. Fanned!

[Christocentric]

03:03 PM on 06/21/2011

Love the fact that Huff Post's poll as of this posting on spanking is running over 80% in favor of it! Most parents of children would resort to spanking a child because number one, the younger kids are just too young to reason and secondly, there's nothing like a little pain to keep a child from wanting to disobey again!

[LivelyLexie]

02:59 PM on 06/21/2011

Who is this judge to tell people that they can't spank their children?! It's one thing to spank a child. Not hitting them with an object, not bruising them, we're talking about a swat on the butt here.
Meanwhile, there's another story on HP about a judge in Hawaii who thinks that punching a child in the face can count as discipline.
These rulings based on personal preference are ridiculous.

[onwisconsin]

02:33 PM on 06/21/2011

I got beaten with a belt when I was a kid by my mom all of the time. I was also slapped across the mouth more times than I can count. It was abuse then and it's still abuse now.

Lucky for me, I had a stepdad who adopted me and put a stop to all of that.

Every single reputable peer-reviewed study has proved that spanking only produces negative outcomes. Why parents continue it is beyond me.

My kids became successful adults without it. That's not to say they were perfect as children and not to say we didn't have discipline in our home. We just didn't resort to physical violence.

[LivelyLexie]

03:02 PM on 06/21/2011

I'm sorry that you had to go through that at home.
I was spanked only as a last resort when I wouldn't listen. And it wasn't even that it was painful, it was more surprising. I was never abused and I would never consider it to be violence. It was just a pop on the butt followed or preceded with why I shouldn't have done what it was that I did. Honestly, some kids need that. But it isn't painful, and I have had no problems as an adult from it.

[onwisconsin]

03:10 PM on 06/21/2011

Lexie,

I have the understanding the there is a difference between a pop on the behind and what happened to me. However, there is a slippery slope because many people punish their children when they are angry. I've worked with far too many abused kids to ignore that.

But it comes down to this for me; Every single reputable peer-revie­wed study has proved that spanking only produces negative outcomes.

How can you justify hitting your child...who you love...when you know that it can cause harm?

[Robert SF]

08:11 PM on 06/21/2011

Your experience was not typical. More to the point, it's nothing like what this case was about. This case was about visible welts hours after the blows. We need to stop this nonsense that "spanking is just a pop on the butt." It's not.

[Chad Brewer]

07:51 PM on 06/20/2011

Yea if my kid was tearing up plants in my yard I'd probably give him a swat lol or just pick him up and sit him down on a chair to try and explain to him why what he was doing was bad. Sometimes a good ol slap to the butt is what is needed though. I know I deserved what I got when I did stupid stuff at that age.

[Crimson Wife]

02:33 PM on 06/28/2011

I don't think anyone aside from the parents ought to have the right to spank a child unless the parents have specifically authorized it. I'm okay with my parents and IL's spanking my children but some neighbor? No way. That crosses the line.

[Lordmock]

07:50 PM on 06/20/2011

that judge needs a spanking or maybe just a good boot up his robes.

[dancingwithwolves]

07:35 PM on 06/20/2011

Attitudes toward spanking (and child-rearing generally) largely fall along class lines. Surprise surprise. Middle-class WASPs telling working class folks how to raise their children, when they don't know what it takes to be adaptive in the environments those kids are being raised in...

Pain is not always a bad thing. It has the potential to be transformative. Indeed, many coming-of-age rites crucially involve painful and frightening experiences, experiences that transform a child into an adult. Our society lacks such dramatic rites of passage. There are no sharp boundaries between childhood and adulthood here. In fact, they would probably be outlawed here. So much for cultural tolerance, heh? I suspect that this is itself the source of many problems, as young people struggle to be accepted as adults, whilst avoiding the responsibilities of adulthood.

Just because spanking may be painful to the child, does not mean that it is maladaptive, or wrong, or abusive, or emotionally damaging. It can be, but most advocates of spanking are not advocating beatings, and they shouldn't be.

Finally, it seems to me that the alternative approaches to behavior management advocated by some here are unduly and unhealthily emotionally manipulative.

But then some people seem to think that putting criminals in jail for 10 years is more humane than 20 lashes of a whip. I'd take the whip over losing 10 years of my life in the pen, any day. One life to live.

[against-ignorance]

01:28 AM on 06/21/2011

".....when they don't know what it takes to be adaptive in the environmen­ts those kids are being raised in..."

We've all heard this argument before. And it sets up a question for which there are only two real answers.

1)Children of 'working class folks' are somehow deficient in intelligence. For whatever reasons. And thus can only effective be 'taught' by physical force.

2) 'Working class folks', for whatever reason, are fundamentally incapable of instructing children without causing physical pain.

I am the child of working class, and for periods working poor, parents. Who farmed vegetables on our two acres when I was young. Who raised me in a conservative Christian denomination. And who were smart enough to quickly realize that corporeal punishment was stupid, ineffective, and lazy parenting. Plenty of my friends parents either knew, or worked such facts out, early on. I don't know what drives you to make your lame excuses for supporting rank nonsense. But please find some other excuse. This one is lame, old, and just plain insulting.

[Terence Duke]

06:51 AM on 06/21/2011

what really keeps kids from becoming adults is this entitlement attitude and being rewarded for mediocrity. And unfortunately I put the blame on mothers for this. sorry ladies. No score in youth sports cause "the little one shouldnt get his or her feelings hurt" guess what there is scoring in sports and some win some lose thats life. cry and get over it. also "everyone should be rewarded and made to feel special" when in fact they are NOT special. THAT is what produces kids that go nowhere fast. I did not put my kids in youth sports for that exact reason. no scoring in sports how ridiculous...and its the teachers fault if there is a problem...not the perfect angel...."he would NEVER do that"... i hear mothers now saying they fix several different meals for different kids. "chicken nuggets is all he will eat and he has to eat" well guess what make ONE healthy dinner (that does not include chicken nuggets) and if they dont eat guess what there is food tomorrow and surprise they will eat.....

[Robert SF]

08:51 AM on 06/21/2011

There is a world of difference between what you're talking about and hitting. The fact that you don't hit doesn't mean you reward for mediocrity.

[onwisconsin]

02:45 PM on 06/21/2011

Not all mothers reward children for every little thing but I'll agree that too many do. I was in the elevator a few months ago with one of my (now grown) kids. The child (age 5 or 6) asked to press the buttons. We were going to the 21st floor. The mother had to help the child find the 2 and the 1 together and then after helping all the way through started clapping and cheering the child as if that were some kind of feat.

After we got off the elevator, my son, who's now in his medical residency, turned to me and said, "Oh my god, Mom. I never remember you exploding with joy when I pushed a button." I said, "What do you remember me celebrating?" He replied, "Real achievements but my best memory is of you saying 'I know you can do this if you work hard enough' and when I finally did it you always said something like, 'See how your hard work paid off? You should be proud of yourself.'"

It caught me off guard that he'd actually been listening all of those times. He finished high school and college with a 4.0 and was tops in his med school. He did that because he learned to apply himself. Those were his rewards.