Use Duct Tape and You May Go To Jail

Reading works of other hubbers, I have learned one way of finding topics to write about is reading newspaper stories. This morning as I was browsing the “news” on the internet, I came across a story of a couple being put in jail for duct taping their two children’s mouths, hands together, and feet together.

I was actually disappointed in the reporter’s story. Maybe they only have space for a 150 to 200 word article. I don’t know. What I do know the reporter left a great deal of information out of the story in my opinion. But what they did say I would like to recap.

Police: Arizona parents duct tape kids, post photos on Facebook

The couple posted these pictures on the internet, specifically Facebook. OK. So if the intent of this couple was to abuse their children, would they have posted such pictures on the internet? The story goes on to say the two children were smiling. Does children smiling sound like children being abused. The mom states, she is a stay at home mom and this was just for fun.

I would really liked to know the real story of how this couple ended up in jail. Inappropriate pictures of children posted on the internet, you say. Well that response brought to mind an accepted television show called “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. I don’t know if my readers have watched that show but what I have seen in the capacity of “funny” children adventures, I would have to say duct tape was pretty mild. I have watched children get knocked down by a dog, fall head first into a wading pool, take a tremendous crash on their bicycle, be run over by bigger brother or sister while riding a bicycle and this is funny. Who knows the duct tape story could have been a couple trying to make an “America’s Funniest Home Video”.

No where in this story did it say this was a discipline tactic the parents were using. However, according to the comments shared below the story, readers jumped to the conclusion this was a way to discipline their children. One comment mentioned, “how can parents abuse their children like that?”

I will share my two experiences with duct tape. The first was when my sister and I were traveling with her one child, five of my children and oldest grandson (3months). We were making a nine hour trip.

Two hours away from our destination we were tired and all the kids were tired. Cramped quarters for seven hours can definitely fray the nerves of adults and kids alike. We took advantage of a rest area, giving everyone time to run around and warning them we didn’t want to hear anymore bickering when we got back in the car.

Of course this warning lasted for about 20 more miles before the bickering started again. Luckily there was one more rest area before our destination, so once again we stopped and let everyone run around hoping we could settle the tribe down. Back in the car and another few miles, the bickering escalated to unheard of cymbals. My sister stopped the car and grabbed a roll of duct tape and proceeded to tape mouths shut and making the culprits hold hands, taped hands together. The rest of the trip was actually quiet.

When we arrived at my uncle’s and began letting the kids out of the car, taking the duct tape off as they got out, my uncle had come out to greet us and was horrified at what we had done. This was the same uncle that had threatened me and my sister with a razor strap when we were bickering as we grew up.

“Well, that’s not the same thing,” he said to us. In my mind yet today, being swatted with a razor strap is a whole lot worse than duct tape

I would like to share a little background about this particular grandchild before I share my next duct tape experience.

This little tyke began arguing before he could speak words. When he learned to crawl he would get behind my husband’s recliner and when asked to come out, he would sit and jabber at my husband and me. Of course he would not come out until one of us physically dragged him out. This little guy had no problem from the beginning letting anyone who would listen or not listen what he thought.

I remember putting him in his high chair, putting peas on the tray so he could pick them up himself and eat them. At first he pushed the peas around on the tray jabbering at the all the while. Then he would pick them up one by one and drop them to the floor, saying “uh, oh” each time until they were on the floor all around his high chair. We might have been a bit dense, but we did figure out he did not like peas.

We had the joy of spending a lot of time with this little guy and his brother due to their dad’s work and their mom’s ill health.

The boys went to stay with my eldest daughter while their dad was working close to where they lived. It was getting close to Christmas, they needed to do some Christmas shopping. The shopping area was about fifteen miles from their home.

“Mom, that child talked the whole way,” my daughter told me later. “We purposely waited until the afternoon, thinking the boys would take a nap on the way. That did not happen.”

By the time they did get into town, my son-in-law turned to Gabby and said, “We don’t want to forget the duct tape.”

“Oh no you don‘t,” Hotrod exclaimed, “you’re not putting duct tape on my mouth.” He was two years old. No one to that point had used duct tape on his mouth, or had even threatened to do so, but he sure knew what it was for.

Today his dad calls him “Hotrod” for good reason. He earned that name very early in life. He has a motor mouth and one speed, HIGH gear, yet today, and he is now 15 years old.

My point is, what some people think is funny, other people think the same incident is horrifying.