Local parents sound off on corporal punishment - Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

The arrest of megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar has put a spotlight on the debate over corporal punishment.
     
Police took the College Park preacher into custody Friday after his 15-year-old daughter told a 911 operator that he choked her. Dollar denies the charge and says he was only disciplining the teen.

Rev. William Juhan, 90, is the patriarch of a rather large family – four children, nine grandchildren and around 30 great-grandchildren.

The retired preacher says his father spanked him and that's why he spanked his own children.

The Decatur believes that  the laws designed to protect children from abuse also make it difficult for today's parents to use corporal punishment as a form of discipline.

"The law says that the child is right and the parents are wrong," said Juhan. "I feel like the parents are always right."

Dollar's comments from the pulpit on Sunday have sparked a debate on how far parents can go in disciplining their children.

Roberto Arevalo says he'll never hit his daughter Alexandro. He says he never spanked his teenaged girls either. He believes communication is the more effective alternative.

"Hands on is not discipline, that's abuse," said Arevalo.

While Juhan disagrees, he does think parents should use corporal punishment as a last resort. He says parents who spend more time talking to their children and imposing stiff consequences for disobedience will raise well rounded, respectful children.

"Parents should do what they know is right," said Juhan.

Police are investigating whether Dollar actually choked his daughter as she claimed in the 911 call.

Juhan says if that is true, that form of discipline is going too far.  He says parents can responsibly punish their children without physically and emotionally abusing them.