Mom Drags Kid On Leash: Melissa Catherine Smith-Means Arrested

I noticed that NO ONE is speaking about what kind of tantrum this brat was throwing before someone decided to start taping when the Mom lost it.  What kind of obscenities was he throwing out before Mom "tortured" him by dragging him across the floor? How many times did he hit and/or kick her? C'mon people - the kid obviously wasn't fighting the leash or even trying to get up or flip over,etc. So maybe there was a scratch or two on his neck - boo hoo! Charging the Mom for a felony over this is absolutely a waste of TAX PAYER DOLLARS and sure to make that Mom think twice about ever trying to control her kid ever again - so those of us who venture out into public will be the ones having to deal with the little brat kicking and screaming and all because she'll be too afraid to even shush the kid after this!

Our society is making kids soft - their egos are padded and they're let to do whatever they want and most kids run over their parents because parents are too afraid to even discipline their kids anymore because the first thing most smart a**ed kids say is "I'm gonna call the cops" or "I'm gonna call CPS."  So, we have little girls who dress like hookers on the Maury show and kids who have to be shipped off to boot camps for attitude adjustments. 

If the Mom had shoved the kid down or the kid had been resisting in any way, then maybe this might be more serious, but obviously, the kid didn't care one bit and that's apparent from the video.  Why aren't the cops out there arresting the REAL child abusers? Why is it this Mom will be charged and jailed on FELONY charges, but child killers will get off with less time and slaps on the wrist??  Those of you out there saying "Oh, how awful!" this Mom is - I bet I see you out at the Mall on Saturdays with your little brats screaming at you, cussing you to your face - because you have never made them mind or respect you.  There's a difference between child abuse and what this Mom did, plain and simple.

It's utterly shocking to read about this story, let alone watching the mother obliviously dragging her child through the store!

WOW....Obviously if the child was acting out, like most small children do when mom is shopping, or on the phone or otherwise engaged, the mother could have delt with this like a parent, not and abuser...getting down to the childs level, looking them straignt in the eye and sternly telling him/her that this behaviour would not be tolerated, as a single mother of two, all I had to do was give the look, you in control parents all know it, am I right. That unyielding glare that said, just you wait till we get home! If in fact the child was hitting and using profanity this was learned behavior either at home or it was tolerated at home, the mother should be charged, did you see the child hit the bottom of the shelving unit, perhaps she should be dragged by a dog leash, thru the local mall!  Don't get me wrong an occasional smack on the bottom is not unwarranted....but dragging, my God, children are a privilidge, taking the time to teach, listen and learn is not always convenient.

Is funny how it only shows how the mother is dragging the kid across the carpet.  They need to view the entire tape before making any accusations or charge the lady.  i dont believe in abuse, but i do believe a child needs an a*# whipping from time to time.  this world is full of bad and crazy kids because the parents have been stripped of their parental rights.  We no longer can whip our kids, or sometimes yell at them, etc.  My mother, yelled, spanked us when we were out of control.  I turned out fine, my brother and sister turned out fine.  I tell my kids all the stories about growing up and how i use to misbehave and how my mom and dad put me straight whether by talking, punishing, whipping, yelling, etc. But never abused us.  I think we can distinguished the difference in abuse.  This lady, obviously had enough of her child and dragged him.  And is not the first time, I've seen a mother drag her child out of a store.  I think that we need our parental rights back and let us be parents.  Now, if abuse is evident then charge the individual, but before we start accusing and charging her, we need to listen to the news everyday on how kids are out of control, and how they are disrespecting parents, and other adults, etc.  Parents being miserable because they are afraid of being a parent.  That is the saddess thing to know.  Is all fun and games until it happens to you.  And please dont tell me, that you will not do anything like that because the honest truth - no one knows what will a parent do during a situation where the child is contstantly acting up.  I've been blessed with my kids.  they are great disciplined kids, but that doesnt mean an ass whipping is not reserved for when they get out of line.  I truly hope the truth comes out and the mother and child gets the help they might need.  But to all the parents who are not afraid to be a parent, keep doing what you doing because you are keeping the world a little safe.  :).

I've been spanked as a kid, threatened, thrown onto couch, and probably dragged too!

...Because I was a little shit, and I knew it ;) but I don't think it was abuse at all, because there was never permanent damage. 

This kid is not going to grow up at age 18 and feel traumitized by a lil drag on the carpet. Maybe if she punched/kicked him full force or Belted him...yeah that would be abuse!

Felony is way overboard. Hopefully the judge sees no prior record of crime/abuse and lowers her charge down to misdemeanor disturbing the peace or something like that.

C'mon people.  I am sure this kid was being a brat.  I am a mother and I do wonder if just raising my voice in public at my child is going to put me in jail.  There are rapist and murders out there and we are charging a mom with this nonsense!  I got a few laughs!  I am sure the kid is fine both physically and mentally!

This kid must have made a HUGE fuss in the store if there were people APPLAUDING when she dragged the kid out.  I was a nanny before I had my daughter, and let me tell you, some kids are little demons.  You can say what you want, they will do what they want.  Do they know better? No. Will dragging this child teach him to listen? I doubt it. But child cruelty? PLEASE!  It wasn't her shining moment as a mom but she didn't pull off her shoe and beat the crap out of him. The child was said to be laughing, so please get over it and get a life.  Is this really what the nation is outraged over?

It’s really dismaying to hear such news. For sure everyone would agree that what she did is totally erroneous. The name Melissa Catherine Smith Means might not mean (oh, a delicious pun!) much to most people, but to fill you in Melissa Catherine Smith Means is the person in a video that's been all over YouTube where a person drags an unruly child by the leash around the child's midsection out of a store.  She was arrested for the crime.  It happened at an electronics store in Paris, Georgia.  (Of course it was in the South – who isn't surprised by that by this point?) In The Science of Parenting, Margot Sunderland warns for adults to keep their logical brain working when kids throw tantrums. 

People are making way too big a deal of this. That kid looked far from traumatized, she wasn't beating him, and nobody acknowledges the fact that parenting brings out the very worst in people as well as the very best, and we caught her in one of her worse moments.  Villianizing her isn't going to solve anybody's problem. 

From what I have seen of this video, this woman is no better than those low class white trash idiots who stand in the mall screaming at their kids at the top of their lungs, effectivley causing a bigger scene than the child. She's supposed to be the adult. There are better ways of dealing with tantrums and diffusing the situation than dragging the child around like a recalcitrant dog in public.

If she's stupid enough to behave like that she deserves what she gets. I have 4 kids, ages 5 to 12, and I have never even had to raise my voice to stop a tantrum. I simply pick them up and remove them to the car, with the age old warning..."just wait til I get you home and tell daddy". Even if it means I have to leave a buggy full of groceries in the middle of aisle. Works every time and I don't look like a psycho.

If your child is so badly behaved in public don't take him shopping with you...or better yet send him off to be raised by wolves. He would stand a better chance of becoming a useful member of society. You reap what you sow.