Spare The Kids Blog

So You Think Beating A Child With A Cord Is Good Parenting?

April 7th, 2013 image

The digital universe is full of viral videos of adults beating children. I view them warily, alert for triggers that catapult me back into the days of being viciously beaten by my adoptive mother, the wife of a Pentecostal preacher … Continue reading



A White Man Struggles with Black Wife’s Family Over Spanking

March 14th, 2013 image

                                 What do you do when you and your spouse clash over whether to spank the children…and the conflict is rooted in black and white? … Continue reading



There’s No Safe Place for Black Children in America

February 18th, 2013 image

“There is no place for black children in this world,” intellectual giant and civil rights doyen W.E.B. Du Bois lamented in 1920. His hyperbolic use of “this world” conveys the mean-spiritedness of mainstream life to the first generations of free … Continue reading



You Lie, You Die: The Bible as a Deadly Weapon

December 9th, 2012 image

                                                 My heart breaks at recent news reports of a 7-year-old boy, Roderick “RJ” Arrington Jr. being … Continue reading



Snapped! When Whipping A Child Turns Deadly

November 11th, 2012 image

                                                           First, there’s the headline: Paul Adams, Black Belt, Allegedly Beat 6-Year-Old … Continue reading



Adoptees’ Fantasies About Birth Parents Can Be Good and Bad

September 15th, 2012 image

                                                       Recently, I met with a group of adult adoptees who were torn about … Continue reading



Why Do So Many Black People Threaten To Hurt Children?

August 2nd, 2012 image

It doesn’t take much to set them off.  Adults, too often Black, are joining a growing chorus on social media and everywhere else to sing the praises of beating children—too often Black—for one infraction or another. Most recently, a viral … Continue reading



Dr. Patton to Ask Pastors to “Spare the Rod” at Children’s Defense Fund Conference

July 21st, 2012 image

                                                         I am excited to announce that this coming week I will be … Continue reading



A Conversation with Rev. Jesse L. Peterson

June 28th, 2012 image

Yesterday I was invited to appear on “Manhood Hour” with black conservative minister Rev. Jesse L. Peterson.  We had an interesting, to say the least, conversation about corporal punishment, forgiveness and a range of other related topics.  Listen in  . … Continue reading



Why I Believe Creflo Dollar’s Daughter

June 16th, 2012 image

                                                               This week I was interview by Loop21 for my … Continue reading