Guest Blog: Day Care Closed After Spanking Investigation

State officials have shut down a family-run day care center in Emporia, Kan., after allegations that the owner used prohibited punishment, which could include spanking or slapping, on the children in her care.

Pamela J. Gile received her license to operate the center on July 20, 2011, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Guest Blog: Violence Does Not Teach

On Facebook, a lengthy exchange of written posts and ripostes by some of my Deming neighbors on HB 172 actually roused one person to cheer the armed policemen who recently used pepper spray on an eight year old in a Colorado classroom. “Kudos!” she wrote. “That kid will think twice next time.”

It is remarkable to witness such enthusiasm for police violence, appropriate or not, even when the subject is a child, with no equivalent enthusiasm for social workers and counselors who heal children’s hearts with listening and compassion. Children are not our enemies, but our deepest and most sacred responsibility.