I had to write something about this. I don’t even know what to say. I just read Faith’s blog about it and I saw the video (you should be very, very, careful about that video) I’m really glad Faith warned that the video could be triggering. As I commented on Faith’s blog, I hadn’t looked into this story because all I saw as I glanced at the internet news was something about hot sauce and I thought it was some new stupid thing that teenagers were doing. When I saw that it was about parental “discipline” that made me stop and I had to read it. Oh my god. That’s all I say. I was stunned. I started watching the video and the mom is yelling at this tiny boy about lying to her. He’s so small and he has this little scared voice and a Russian accent. It broke my heart. Then she started saying things like, “What happens when you lie to me!?” and he said ‘I get hot sauce’… at that point I had to mute the video because I was yelling at my laptop screen saying “Oh god please no, don’t do this’. I muted it and I watched it because I kept thinking, ‘This can’t be happening’ Thankfully, the video I saw had his face hidden but even with the sound muted it was…horrible. She made him hold hot sauce in his mouth and then after he spit it out (they had captions on the bottom of the screen so we could understand what was being said) she said something else about what would happen and he said “I get the cold shower”. I lost it. I wanted to kill her with my bare hands. She made him take a cold shower. I guess this clip was shown on the Dr. Phil show when she was a guest and there were only a few seconds of the show following the video of her doing this. Dr. Phil said they did not shoot the video, I think the little boy’s sibling had to videotape it and I saw audience members in tears. I want to see what happened on the rest of the show. I want to see how Dr. Phil dealt with this evil, disgusting woman.
I said on Faith’s blog that a person who had read and or watched the video asked the question, if this hot saucing is the same as putting soap in a kid’s mouth for swearing. The commenter said that they had soap put in their mouth for cussing once when they were a kid but they didn’t feel degraded or abused by it. I think this person and I both agreed however that this thing, what this horrible woman did, is absolutely, child abuse! And the fact that the boy knew what happens when he lies, tells me that this had happened to him before. I have to say that I’m shaken and I wish I hadn’t looked at the video even if I muted it. On the other hand the child deserves for people to see what he’s been through so that he can be rescued and given to a family that will truly love him and protect him. I’m feeling sick to my stomach but I feel like that’s the least I can do for this little boy, feel sick to my gut about what happened to him.
They better put this woman away for a long time because she’s dangerous, twisted and she’s done lifelong damage to this child.
That’s all, I just had to say something. I’ll spend the rest of the day trying to get over what I saw.
I’m speechless.
jo
Thankfully every comment I’ve seen about this story in different places is the same reaction as ours. That’s a good thing because it means most people aren’t actually evil despite our own personal experiences.
I felt exactly like you did when I watched the show. His little scared voice tore me apart. I love children. I love their innocence and vulnerability. She is a demented individual. I saw that show when it aired. Since then both my mother and grandmother have both passed away. I loved them both so much. Even though I have had these very sad events in my life, I still think about that little boy every day. I wish I could go into that house and scoop him up and give him the love that he deserves for the rest of his life. Poor little baby. She even said when she got both of the boys she felt a real strong connection to the other boy. She didn’t feel that connection with the abused child. I was not abused when I was little. I just wish I could erase this show from my memory but you said it very well when you said we owe it to him to atleast have seen it. There is also something very wrong with having her 10 yr old child video this. I really believe, even though she was supposedly at wits end, that she had that video made to show how out of control the child was, not her. When the audience spun it around on her then she said she was willing to go and expose herself to the negativism of the audience. I think she is the only liar in that family. I have never felt such hatred toward a complete stranger. I am just so glad that this show did make this much of an impact on people and that the consensus is that most people were very disturbed by it. What you wrote was so true to my heart. Lets hope the little boy finds some happiness in life. I wish he would just be in a happy environment. She is miserable. I don’t see it being at that home.
I had such mixed reactions to this video clip… I knew it was wrong, so very wrong. There are parts of me who would love to be locked in a room with that woman for a week. But there is also that little hurt voice in the back, saying ever so quietly, “See, that’s what happens when you’re bad, so no more being bad. You get hurt when you’re bad. I’m bad, I deserve to be hurt”. It’s not about the poor defenseless boy, who was being abused, hurt and humiliated; he deserves protection, as do all other children. But, parts see this sort of thing as a way to reinforce that they were bad. I know that probably sounds selfish. I know I dissociated while watching the clip, I was already spacey when I clicked on it.
I’ve called the Police on people that I’ve seen people acting abusively towards children. I know that may seem like an over-reaction, but I’d rather over react, than not act at all.
I hope that boy and his sister found a safe home to stay.
Take care,
CG
You’re not selfish at all CG. I can totally see how you’d feel that way and I’m sorry the story caused you pain. I was worried how other abuse victims might react to the story. Maybe the fact that the public is completely outraged over what this woman did can help your parts to see who was really bad. It wasn’t the little boy and it wasn’t you.
I won’t watch the video, or read the news story. Part of me wants to, I think in hope of connecting with our emotions, but I think it would be too much for us. Thank you for writing about it though Tai. I can relate to this boy’s experience (and will post about it on my own blog rather than put that detail here in your comments). So, although the video would likely be too triggering for us, to hear about the story is validating because I have always struggled to label what I experienced as abuse.
Dawn
Believe me Dawn I totally understand skipping the video and the story, it’s so awful. I am glad to hear that you got some validation though and I will read your post about it.
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