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08/24/2004:

"Parents Divided Over Practice of ‘Hot Saucing’ as a Form of Discipline"

abc news.com
— The practice of "hot saucing" a child's tongue as a method of discipline may seem cruel to some parents, but those who regularly use the punishment say it teaches their charges valuable and long-lasting lessons.

Lisa Whelchel, who played Blair on the popular 1980s TV series Facts of Life, is an advocate and practitioner of "hot saucing." Whelchel, the author of Creative Correction: Extraordinary Ideas for Everyday Discipline, says the practice worked for her children when other disciplinary actions did not.

"It does sting and the memory stays with them so that the next time they may actually have some self-control and stop before they lie or bite or something like that," Whelchel said on ABC News' Good Morning America.

Whelchel says she would have never used hot sauce to discipline her three children if it caused lasting damage.
full article

What is the definition of 'long-lasting damage?' Everyone was incensed about Janet Jackson's breast at the Super Bowl, but nobody said a word about the commercial that aired that day featuring a bar of soap stuffed in a child's mouth. Children have no activist groups protesting their everyday brutalization. It is legal for a parent to physically assault his/her child as long as no marks are left. In balanced, healthy societies, parents do not assault their kids.