My 7-year-old daughter, Sophie, came home from her mom’s with marks on her back. Her stepdad called it “toughening up.” But as a police officer, I know what marks like these really mean: evidence.
Sophie’s usual spark was gone, replaced by fear. She whispered, “Daddy, I need to be stronger.” The “training” she described—lifting heavy boxes, timed punishments if she cried—was cruel, not discipline.
I called her mom, Laura. She brushed it off: “She’s exaggerating. Nathan is teaching her discipline. You’re too soft.”
No. Forcing a child into pain isn’t character-building. It’s abuse. I knew I had to act—and fast.
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