Oct
I was eating lunch today and I overheard these 2 women talking about their children. One of the ladies said that a few nights ago her child was misbehaving so when she prepared the bath water for her child (I have no idea how old this child is) that she put the water as cold as she could. So for the child being bad, the child was bathed in COLD water. I know it would be considered abuse if the child was bathed in scolding hot water but is the opposite true of cold water? I just found this to be disturbing. I’ve a 3 yr old step daughter who lives with me full time and I would never think about punishing her by freezing her in a bath. Opinions?
Answer:
If the child wasn’t left in the cold water long enough to begin causing hypothermia, then I don't see how it could be considered abuse.
After all, when you consider it, how many times have you jumped into a swimming pool or in the ocean when the water was really cold. It felt pretty darn uncomfortable not didn't it. Were you harmed? Of course not, not unless you’re in the water long enough that you begin to suffer from hypothermia.
I guess look at it this way…
A fair comparison to scalding hot water would be ice water (water at 32 degrees).
A fair comparison to cold bath water (60-75 degrees) is a hot tub.
(Note: Based not the conversation over-heard, I don't think this woman is talking about adding ice to the bath water. I think she's speaking about simple cold tap water. Cold tap water is not going to harm you, but pour it all over you and you swiftly notice. Now I'll admit that I never bathed my kids in cold water, but when it came time to get out of the tub, if they didn't want to get out, all it took was to turn on just the cold tap and they were out of there in a flash).
Answer:
When a child is misbehaving, the punishment should be immediate and match the “crime.” It is retribution, not punishment, to hurt the child later. Granted, at this time of year the water isn't very cold, but the point is that the parent used retribution, not punishment. This is, indeed, abuse.
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It is abuse. You should report her. I know it sucks to report people but for the child's sake you should. If my husband ever gave my daughter a freezing cold bath I would kill him. Seriously. That is a horrible thing to do. The poor child must have cried the whole time.
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I think purposely putting a child in freezing cold water is just as abusive as if you were putting them in hot water. Its pretty much the same principle either way, because its being used as a cruel and unusual punishment.
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I think it is. Why would you want to do that to a child? Now that kid will probably be sick pretty soon.
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That story really bothered me. CPS should look in on her.
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i concur with HooKooDooKu
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thats sick its sweet and motherly that u r concearnd if u see these women again find them out so u can report them
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very bad ,!
we should report to FBI
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Isn't this a form of POW torture???
Medically, if the water wasn't cold enough & the child wasn't in the water long enough to cause hypothermia then technically that might not be considered abuse. I don't feel that the argument “we jump in cold pools” holds much water–pun intended. For the mere fact that we generally only swim when we’re hot or the weather is warm. On that note we have the expectation that the water will be in fact COLDER than the surrounding temp. Other examples that hold to that would be when serving in the military, if you’re in the field or at war you rarely if ever have hot water for a real shower. Again, a grown-up has the preconceived expectation of what befalls them in those circumstances.
Ethically, had you not heard this conversation regarding the premeditation of the act, then I would like to point out this fact. Having worked with families of lower socioeconomic means and limited education, I have found that some families limited the use of a water heater or didn’t have one available or in working conditions. Meaning everything was cold water washed including their kids. Some of these families were not concerned with comfort only economics. Let me accentuate however, when given some education or instruction on other ways to warm, conserve & reuse water & energy& improving the comfort level of their family, they more often than not changed their habits. Some of these people grew up believing much like Amish or generations ago believed that you only needed one bath before church on Sunday. Some of these families were also struggling to keep a roof over their head, and food in their tummies and didn’t have any intentional thoughts of harming or depriving their children.
Morally, this woman had a premeditated plan to carry out. She intentionally made the water as cold as she could to inflict anguish, torture, and punishment on her child. As a mom, I know we all have days when we’re far from the parent we would like to be and we all want do overs, but you don't intentionally lay out a plan to harm your child. Which is essentially what this woman did. Her child misbehaved and instead of doing something proactive to discipline her child she came up with a way to physically torture the child. Let me also advocate that this child was probably under 8 years of age as children at the age and older are not getting bathed by mom & dad anymore. You are probably looking at a toddler or preschool age child. A child that’s too small to fight back, but not yet old enough to reason about his/her own consequences and behavior. Another point to look at, if you are unwilling put in freezing cold water, your first instinct would be to get out, I’ve no doubt that this woman must have forcefully held the child in the water & I’ve no doubt the child protested & cried for her to halt or wanted someone to help.
If this woman is already doing these sorts of atrocious things to her child, what will be next? Someone needs to look into this woman and her child. At this point she may not have severely physically harmed her child but at the very least her child is going to have some trust issues to work on. This woman sounds sick & needs some counseling and parenting help, but someone needs to be an recommend for that poor child. I would report this. Do you know the woman? Will you see her again? I wouldn’t say to confront her but see if you can catch her name or if someone who was with you knew her or maybe even where she works. If you do report her then maybe the restaurant where you were has a security camera and they have the ability to rewind to that day and find her. Good luck.
Answer:
It sounds a bit extreme but it won't do any harm to the child like scolding hot water. Unless the child is kept in the tub long enough to get hypothermia.
For the person that stated she would be sick soon after that’s totally not true. Bacteria and viruses cause sickness not cold water.