The Adrian Peterson Update

Adrian Peterson entered a plea last week.  His felony was reduced to a misdemeanor.  He was given two years probation, 80 hours of community service in which half of this time must be in community service announcements about good parenting, and regular drug testing.  An assessment of  his parenting skills will be made.  

I do not think that he should ever have been charged with a crime. Parenting classes and counseling or an assessment should have been made before reaching that level.   There are a lot of feelings about the issue of physical punishment–spanking.  For about a month after the initial incident was exposed, ministers preached about the secular and the christian way of viewing discipline.  “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was frequently discussed.  I had a conversation with John Lucas, the ex-professional basketball player in FedEx.  He stated that he would not have whipped a four year old in this manner but he would whip a ten year old in this manner.  He had no respect or tolerance for punishments like “time out”.  He believes physical punishment is necessary especially for young black men who encounter more in the inner city and have more challenges. We will probably always have fundamental differences on this issue.  I respect his point of view because it is probably the majority point of view.  

I personally have a concern about private matters becoming public and how these matters are handled.  I am not a fan of television therapy.  Who puts the pieces together after the person leaves the show.  What happens when private matters are revealed before the person can cope. Too many people commit suicide after being on shows or having their private matters exposed before they are able to cope.   If the person is exposed or symptoms are being revealed to the public and the person has not dealt with the issues,  does he have a good support system to help him cope?  Did it only bother me that Adrian Peterson revealed he was using drugs after the public incident when there had been no prior known drug use. Coping with drugs may be a symptom of inter-generational depression.  We will not know without an assessment.  Additionally, he had just coped with surgery and rehabilitation within the last two years.  With injury, there is usually depression.  What did he do to cope with the depression and pain?  Was this spanking a symptom of how he was coping the the depression or other issues. I am glad that his parenting skills are being assessed.  This is a step in the right direction.  I hope Adrian Peterson takes this time to assess a lot of things and do some personal reflection.I will always take the position that God loves him and he is too precious to lose.  I will pray for him and his family. This problem with spanking in this family that became public to this degree may be a symptom of problems within the family unit itself.  It was confusing to me that the mother did not seek counseling or other aid and now feels that visitation and the restraining order should be ended.  This would be mixed messages to me if I were a child. This family needs family therapy or a family assessment.  To the public, this was great fodder for conversation.  To me, I saw the public and family pain.