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Jailed For Parenting? Was This Mom’s Actions Discipline Or Child Abuse?

By Noelle Nicholas
Published on: 13:02 PST, Jun 23, 2016

There are as many parenting styles as there are parents in this world. In the last few decades, parenting has changed in many ways. What was once an accepted form of parenting has become grounds for being jailed for child abuse. Is spanking a child a necessary parenting decision, or is it, in fact, child abuse?

One Baton Rouge, Louisiana mother was literally jailed for using spanking as a parenting choice. While the whipping was not simply an open-handed smack, the crime was perhaps too steep for a simple time out or taking away a privilege.

Schaquana Evita Spears was jailed for spanking three of her sons, ages 10-13, with an electrical cord for breaking into a neighboring home and stealing. The Advocate reports Spears is the single mother to a total of six children, the thirteen-year-old boy is her oldest.

Schaquana works hard to support her children, taking her parenting responsibilities seriously. She is a cook and also runs her own catering business. She believes it is ridiculous to be jailed for a parenting decision meant to keep her own children from growing up as criminals and being jailed themselves at some point.

Apparently, the eldest boy stated that his mother whipped him with an RCA cord. He received the majority of the punishment, quite possibly because he may have been the ringleader. He suffered cuts to his arms, one shoulder, back, and abdomen. Some of the cuts caused some bleeding.

The middle boy received cuts to his arm and the youngest came away with only a small scratch on his hand. Their mom was jailed on the accusation of two counts of child cruelty.

It was Lisa Nicholson’s home that the three boys broke into. She says she backs Spears’ parenting decision to spank her boys completely. She would have done the same thing if she had been in the other woman’s shoes.

“If it was me, I’m gonna beat you before I let the cops kill you. I’m gonna do what I have to do. I’m not gonna let (my children) steal and kill and do all of that. I’m not gonna let them fall victim to the streets.”

The Advocate further stated that the jailed mom’s bond was paid by an unlikely individual. Winter Applewhite, a bail bondsperson, orchestrated as well as paid for the release of the jailed mom.

Winter, owner of Come Get Me Bailbonding, felt compelled to lend assistance to the jailed parent in an act of gratitude to God for sparing her son from a recent car accident.

“I just felt like I should help her because I owe God. I can’t repay him enough, but I know I owe him.”

Many people have thrown their support behind the jailed mom, as they believe she made the correct parenting choice, reports WGNO. In her own words, the jailed woman says parenting sometimes hinges on stronger discipline, and in her mind, this is a necessary part of parenting, especially when she is driven by the fear that her children will end up being jailed or killed.

“I didn’t want them to commit another crime. I did what I was raised to do and what my mom did to me. People think I’m a bad person and I’m not because I love my children. That’s what’s getting me through. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. In this day and age, I see so many babies getting killed, and I refuse to look at my babies in a coffin.”


District Attorney Hillar Moore commends the jailed mom for actively parenting her children. “We need parents that are involved in their kid’s lives. And we need parents that are going to be a parent and not a friend.”

Do you think this Baton Rouge mom crossed the line with her parenting? Should she be jailed for spanking her kids? Or was her parenting correct, and the punishment fit the crime? Tell us what you think.

[Image via Oregon Department of Transportation | Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and resized | CC BY 2.0]

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