Police: Child forced to eat soap

[Kadie]

Police: Child forced to eat soap
BY J.D. GALLOP • FLORIDA TODAY • October 13, 2009

A mother and her boyfriend were jailed over the weekend after Palm Bay police said an 8-year-old girl was forced to eat soap after uttering an obscene word.

The girl, who police said suffered an allergic reaction, has been removed from the couple’s home by the Department of Children and Families, along with her 18-month-old sibling.

snip...
“(The girl) used an expletive and the boyfriend had her eat soap,” said Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Palm Bay Police Department.

“It caused the girl’s mouth and throat to swell. But they didn’t provide immediate medical care.”

Police said the pair became concerned after the child continued to complain about the pain in her throat after chewing on the soap for 10 minutes.

The mother told police her boyfriend took the girl to a hospital because she, “didn’t want to deal with DCF,” police reported.


more...
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200991012012

[Buzz Clik]

1. hm.

[JuniperLea]

3. That's the image that came to my mind first!

Excellent call!

[Buzz Clik]

7. "Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. "

Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. My personal preference was for Lux, but I found Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heady, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness. Life Buoy, on the other hand... YEECH!

[JuniperLea]

11. My kids and I can cue lines for that movie!

Seeing as how they are the Parker kids, they felt like family to Ralphie and Randy Parker.

It was soap... poisoning!



We all do the "Ralphie Parker Grin" too... we all have his dimples... hey! Maybe we are related! LOL!

[pipi_k]

25. Ivory soap, despite its claims of being 99 and 44/100% "pure"

always made my nose burn whenever I snacked on it.


I always liked "Dove" for its creamy smoothness

[Horse with no Name]

28. My grandmother preferred LAVA

for our indulgence of profanity.

[Buzz Clik]

32. Gads. That's rough.

:evilgrin:

[pipi_k]

38. OMG that stuff can take the paint off a battleship!!!!

seriously, do you have any lips left?

[Kadie]

46. Same here...

Grandparents house always had LAVA soap. I didn't use bad language as a child, but my brother, whoosh. He had his mouth washed out several times with LAVA.

:scared:

[Sinti]

49. I know the flavor - but did she rub it in your teeth? n/t

[Horse with no Name]

52. I don't recall that

I do remember the sand that was left in your mouth and on your tongue after the offending agent was removed!

[WeDidIt]

10. But Ralphie, how did you go blind?

It was...it was...SOAP Poisoning!

[JuniperLea]

13. Ha!

DU has a lot of Ralphie Parker fans!

I just posted the photo to that line above!

:rofl:

[HughBeaumont]

69. Ralphie now directed the Number One movie in the country.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1078940/

[vadawg]

2. wonder what the consensus will be on this one..

my problwm is not getting her help once they realised someting was wrong... PS cant remember how many times my mouth was washed out growing up

[Gman2]

24. My problem is they made her EAT the soap, not wash her mouth out.

[Statistical]

50. Exactly I had my mouh washed out with soap but it never required 10 MINUTES of chewing.

[kath]

61. Yep - they made her chew and swallow it! - Big difference between that and doing the Ralphie Parker

thing.

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. Reminds me of poor Ralphie:

[Cleita]

5. Back in my day kids got their mouths soaped routinely for using

"bad" words even in school by the teacher. I didn't think that kind of child abuse was still in use. Apparently, we need laws clearly stating what kind of discipline, that may have been okay sixty years ago, is considered child abuse today.

[Lance_Boyle]

8. child abuse? washing the mouth out with soap is child abuse???

Dear gawds - it's effective punishment. The problem in this case was an allergy and the parents' unwillingness to seek medical attention promptly. Washing a kids mouth out with soap as discipline is most certainly not "child abuse."

[Peacetrain]

15. There is a difference between having your mouth washed out with soap

(it happened to me..yuckky) and being forced to eat soap..Example: Toothpaste, is what you clean your teeth with, but you do not want to swallow it because it can be harmful.


Though I would not do that now,(use soap as a punishment) With my son, when he got into trouble he head to clean the kitchen cabinets. Now that was an effective punishment.. and profitable for me, in that I did not have to clean my cabinets :)

[Cleita]

22. Exactly. I don't find soaping even if it's not eating soap to be any less

abusive although the child may not get as sick. Frankly, withholding toys and privileges for bad behavior or cleaning the cabinets like you have done, is far more effective in the long run. When I was a kid, I was spanked and soaped all the time, and I still challenged my parents by misbehaving deliberately. I admit that I was a really bad brat with a reputation among other mothers as well. I even remember my mother asking if I behaved at birthday parties and the other mother would say that I was pretty good that time or maybe worse than ever another time. If I got a bad review I got spanked. I didn't care. One day I had been promised to be taken to a movie I wanted to see. I misbehaved and no one had time to spank me that time, so they punished me by not letting me see that movie. Back in those days, it meant once it ran at the movie house, most likely you would never get a chance to see it ever as there was no TV or DVDs. To my parents surprise, I became much better behaved after throwing the initial temper tantrum. They reminded me that if there were things I wanted like certain movie privileges and other play privileges that I would have to behave. It worked. They never had to spank me again.

[CrispyQ]

62. My maternal grandmother washed my mouth out with soap, spanked me with her hand &

& other implements & smacked me across the face several times. I'm sure that's why I hated her from a very early age. She never treated her other grand children that way. Many years later, when I was an adult, she complained to my mother that I was the only grandchild she didn't have a good relationship with. :eyes: It was years later before I told my mother how her mother had treated me.

There was no sadness when I heard she died. Fucking crone. I can think of so many other ways she could have punished me that would have been more effective & not cultivated a deep seated hatred of her.

[Peacetrain]

63. I totally agree with you!

Abusive behavior towards children elicits abusive behavior by children. What was that only saying, "you are what you eat." I think it should be reworked to be, "you react by how you are treated."

Now of course, I am not of the ignore acting out either. That gets us all in trouble also. Kids are always looking for what the limits are. Giving them guidance is much more helpful than a slap. Your parents, luckily, were able to back up and take a look at what was working. Some parents do not.

[Cleita]

16. Yes, it is. It's not effective punishment, nor is spanking.

I don't agree that there is such a thing as bad language anyway and any language kids hear, they are going to repeat. Wow, I hate to think what kind of rearing you got and what you are doing to your own kids.

[pnwmom]

59. And when kids don't hear that language at home from their parents or other

close adults, they're not going to use it there either.

I don't even remember one of my three kids using bad language, and it's not because we made a big deal about it. We just don't use it ourselves. Somehow they all knew not to take some of the words they heard on the playground or the sports court inside to our kitchen or living room.

[Echo In Light]

75. +1

We tell our daughter that "bad words," per se, do not exist, but rather, what matters is the context in which one uses the words ... and, that as soon as you encounter somebody who is compelled to support narrow minded, reactionary norms grounded in imposing belief systems replete with 'acceptable' or non-acceptable language, you have much more to be legitimately concerned about with those type of people, and their type of thinking, than you do any word in and of itself, which, after all, is only a dead symbol that people give meaning to. And we're not spankers, either.

[Mari333]

17. its child abuse.

[JonLP24]

19. Thank gawd I never had any soap stuffing parents

My dad slapped me around few times when I visited him growing up and that as well as many reasons is why I never talk to him and haven't seen him since 2002.

[pipi_k]

26. The only effective punishment is telling a child that the words are

inappropriate and that polite people do not use them.


If washing a kid's mouth out with soap...or any kind of physical punishment...were "effective", it wouldn't happen repeatedly.


Oh, and it also helps if the parents don't swear like longshoremen either.

I once saw a "friend" smack her young son in the mouth for using the same word she used every. single. day.

Yeah, nice going there, mom.

Great role model...

:eyes:

[pnwmom]

73. You're right. The KEY thing is that the parents never use the words in front

of the child (preferably not at all).

My children all instinctively knew, once they learned those words somewhere else, not to bring them home.

[ieoeja]

34. It's abuse.

How many times did your kid use "dirty" language before you soaped them?

[Statistical]

51. Make a child EAT soap for 10 MINUTES isn't child abuse?

[pnwmom]

53. Yes, it is abuse. n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

58. She had an allergic reaction and was vomiting

They laughed at her and made her clean up her own vomit before they let her rinse out her mouth. Her tongue, lips and throat were swelling and in pain. The mother's boyfriend then left the hospital before she was treated after hearing the authorities had been called to look into the case.

That's not an acceptable form of punishment.

[pnwmom]

74. The parents KNEW that the child had asthma. OF COURSE this was an

incredibly stupid and abusive thing to do to a child with asthma, whose airways are already hyper-reactive.

[RT Atlanta]

21. I used to get it when I was young

You needed the soap to wash out those "dirty" words.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

56. wrong spot

Oops.

[sandnsea]

6. Positive reinforcement works better

As does not using the words you don't want repeated. I think it is a complete waste of state resources to remove the children though, unless there were previous complaints.

[Submariner]

9. A nun did that to me twice

Mean bitches....every one of them.

[CatWoman]

18. BOO!!

:rofl:



so, were you more like Jake?

Or Elwood? :)

[Submariner]

66. I was as pure as the driven snow

Since I was only 8 years old.

The first time was because I was shuffling around class to class doing baby steps. The nun told me to stop making fun of the handi-capped people who have trouble walking. I told her I wasn't making fun of anybody, and that I couldn't walk normal. She put soap in my mouth for "talking back" to her.;(

Two hours later I fell down a flight of stairs going to recess (for the warm milk left next to the radiator). I was then taken to the hospital where I was diagnosed with infantile paralysis (POLIO)had became paralyzed for two weeks. The Jimmy Fund saved me and cured me.

[WheelWalker]

12. Let them eat cake

[KansDem]

70. !!!

:rofl:

It took me a couple of minutes, but I got it! :D

[schmuls]

14. My mother chased me around the house with a bar of soap after

I said shit in 1959. I was totally stunned because I didn't know kids got there mouth washed out with soap. Of course, in 1959 shit was a really bad thing to say. I was about 7

[pipi_k]

36. I know it's not funny and I really shouldn't laugh, but...

the statement, "I said shit in 1959" is too funny.

:7



PS...there used to be a dry dog food called "Burger Bits". One time I said it and nearly got my mouth washed out with soap when my mother thought I said "Burger Bitch".

Oh, and another time there was a prank/joke going around that went, "Hey...you wanna hear a dirty joke?" "Yeah!!!!" "Six white horses fell in the mud!" har har har har...

Mom didn't think that was too funny either.

Sometimes a kid doesn't have to do anything wrong to get in big trouble...


Now I use swear words all the time

:evilgrin:

[kestrel91316]

20. I got my mouth washed out with soap once that I can remember.

It was memorable. I don't consider it a crime, but then the soap was only in contact with my mouth for a few seconds, not TEN MINUTES.

[ronnykmarshall]

23. What's all this fuss about soup?

Soup is good for little children. That little brat should be glad to get some soup after saying those curse words!

[Rude Dog]

27. No, not soup.

Soap. They made her eat soap.

[Shell Beau]

29. I think he was kidding

[Rude Dog]

31. Please...

...if you don't understand the bit, don't interrupt.

Here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Litella">be informed.

[Shell Beau]

39. Ok. Jeez. I am sorry.

[rvablue]

43. Rude is right. Chill. n/t

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Contrary1]

60. "You don't tell me what to do. Ever."

Right. But your own rules don't apply to yourself. :eyes:

"...if you don't understand the bit, don't interrupt."

[Shell Beau]

67. His name says it all. Rude.

I was trying to be helpful, and apparently I missed whatever the joke was. Oh well!! No worries here. :)

[Contrary1]

30. Ok, Emily...

:rofl:

[RaleighNCDUer]

35. Oh. Never mind. nt

[pipi_k]

37. My mom's homemade soup would kill an elephant n/t

[Nikki Stone1]

33. DARE TO DISCIPLINE STUPIDLY!!

Florida.

Not gonna say it.

[gatorboy]

41. I'll say it.

Fuuuuucked up.

[ddeclue]

40. Palm Bay the town that brought you "Obama is a Muslin"..

:blush:

We're sorry America.. we don't mean to be America's penis.. we just are.

[gatorboy]

42. If one of your first worries is the DCF,

Then there's probably much more going on in this household.

[pnwmom]

57. Absolutely. n/t

[CrispyQ]

64. So true. --nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

44. The issue here is they didn't provide immediate medical care after an allergic reaction

Police said the little girl was foaming at the mouth and wasn't allowed to wash the soap out until she cleaned up her own vomit.

"The detectives handling this case believed it to the point of abuse, child abuse, and that it was malicious torture,” explained Palm Bay police spokesperson Yvonne Martinez said.

Investigators say Rivera was laughing while the girl's mother did nothing until the couple noticed the girl's lips, throat and tongue were swollen. Then Rivera took her to Palm Bay Community Hospital.

However, police say, Rivera didn't stay to get her any help and left after he found out hospital staff called authorities, including the Florida Department of Children and Families.

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/brevard_news/101309_Couple_who_forced_child_to_eat_soap_free

To laugh at the child suffering pain and vomiting, and then to make her clean up her own vomit is not an acceptable form of punishment for saying a prohibited word.

[surrealAmerican]

45. Poor kid.

I wonder if there had been earlier signs that she had a soap allergy, like skin irritation or rashes.

[pnwmom]

54. I can't believe how many DUers think this is funny and/or not abusive.

It's like I stumbled onto a freeper site.

Before you think about disciplining your children for language, you should think about what that child is hearing from the adults around them. I can't even remember my three children using bad language around us, and it's not because they don't hear it on the playground or on their teams. They just never heard it at home. I'm sure they probably use it among their friends, but they'd know never to use it with adults.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

65. I think some people didn't read the article

It really horrific the trauma the little girl had to endure, and I think most would agree if they looked into it a little bit.

I agree with you, if a parents conduct themselves a certain way children do respond to that in a household. That applies to both good and bad conduct by parents.

[pipi_k]

55. Something else that bothers me about this

and similar cases where a person living in the house who is not the child's parent is allowed to "discipline" the child

What the HOLY HELL is the mother thinking, letting her boyfriend get involved in punishment of her child like that?

I mean, he's not even her husband, for crissakes!!!


I've lived with guys who were not my kids' dads, and if any of them had even tried to make my kids eat soap, they'd be picking their nuts up off the floor and there would not be a second time.

Nobody has ever laid a hand on my kids in punishment or forced them to do something that would hurt them.

[TwilightGardener]

68. It seems that a hallmark of bad mothering, at least the kind that makes the news

and results in arrests, is allowing boyfriends/male acquaintances to care for and discipline one's children. It often seems to result in tragedy for the child.

[Liquorice]

76. Yes, many women don't seem to realize the potential danger their children

are in (especially little girls), when they move a boyfriend into the home.

[a la izquierda]

71. My sister had her mouth washed out once...

but I never did.
Now, my parents had the worst potty mouths ever, and I do too. I admit it. My husband jokes that the first words our future kiddos will say will be "fuck". But, the two of us fortunately learned when and where it's okay to cuss (and, for all the Miss Manners out there, I do have an extensive vocabulary). I just don't think that words like shit or fuck hurt anybody, because I've never seriously called anyone I love an asshole, or told them to fuck off. But, you can bet when I'm watching the news I cuss like a sailor.

[pnwmom]

72. It is so painfully clear that the child learned this language from at least one

of the adults around there.

Are we supposed to believe that this particular pair -- the violent stepfather and the mother whose first concern is the child protection agency -- never uses swear language in front of the child?