When I first read this headline, I thought to myself, “What’s the problem?” After all, this happened in a Wal-Mart in Georgia so I am sure tons of little retarded children get slapped around for acting the fool in the store. After all it’s not like it was a high end store such as Target. A parent has to lay down the law every now and then.
What made this story interesting is that it wasn’t the parent that slapped the child, it was this guy.
(He still looks pretty pissed off about the whole incident).
It seems that Roger Stephens was sick and tired of listening to Sonya Mathews 2 year old daughter Paige crying and making a fuss. So, he very kindly asked her to quiet her child down before he did it for her. So far, this seems like a reasonable request.
For whatever reason, Sonya couldn’t / wouldn’t shut up Paige so Roger did what any of us would do…he slapped the little girl several times in the face. Sure enough, the little tyke stopped crying. It worked like a charm. This is what we refer to as “it takes a village” parenting. When the actual parent sucks, a pseudo parent steps in and takes over.
Amazingly, instead of thanking the kind gentlemen for helping her parent her unruly brat, the mother started screaming and calling out for help. If she would have put that kind of energy into her parenting in the first place, Roger wouldn’t have had to fix the situation for her.
Long story short, Roger gets charged for cruelty with children in the first degree, a felony. So now Roger has a rap sheet for doing what any of us would have done in the same situation. So I have to ask, when did my country become Russia? Where are Roger’s 1st, 2nd, and 4th amendment rights to quiet loud children and shop in Wal-Mart in peace and quiet? What the hell is going on?
I am hoping to start the “Roger can slap whomever the hell he wants” fund and free this saint of a man. What a wonderful, and more quiet, world it would be if we had more men like Roger living in it. I am also going to encourage him to start a “Mr. Manners” academy where he can get young people back on track.
Be warned you lazy parents out there. If you don’t shut that loud, obnoxious kid, Roger might just do it for you. This Bud’s for you Roger…
Posted by tannerleah 
