Adrian Peterson Says He’ll Never Use a Switch Again

“No one knows how I felt when I turned my child around after spanking him and seeing what I had left on his leg. No one knows that dad sat there and apologized to him, hugged him and told him that I didn’t mean to do this to you and how sorry I was,” Adrian Peterson said in an interview with USA Today suggesting that he learned the errors of his ways. “There’s different situations where a child needs to be disciplined as far as timeout, taking their toys away, making them take a nap. There’s so many different ways to discipline your kids.”

He goes on to say “I love my son. I love my kids, my family. Like I said after I took the misdemeanor plea, I take full responsibility for my actions. I regret the situation. I love my son more than any one of you could even imagine.” This coming just days after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell claimed Peterson showed no remorse. 

I believe that you shouldn’t tell people how to raise their children, on another hand, I believe that parents need to stop disciplining children when we are angry or not level headed. That’s when the force becomes excessive. Bruises aren’t the only way to get a point across.

I definitely am one that believes in spankings. I spank my own child, however, if you find yourself having to spank your child every day rather than on occasion, then spankings aren’t the answer. The purpose of punishments and discipline is to teach the child that what they did was wrong and to not do it again. If they’re still doing it again then clearly your switch, belt and extension cord isn’t working and you should probably consider parenting, guiding and paying attention. Switches don’t raise kids. Lastly, let’s stop with the notion that spankings keep kids out of jail. I can guarantee you there are plenty of men and women who got whooped to the white meat that are sitting in a jail cell right now. Just my thoughts on it.

Do I believe that Adrian Peterson won’t use a switch again? Maybe, now that he knows ‘the man’ is watching. Do I believe that it’s because he left open cuts on his child, nope. I definitely feel like his change of heart is because of his job.