| Medical services have reported they are seeing an | | | | tongue to swell. This can create a potential choking |
| increase of children needing treatment for burns in the | | | | hazard. He said: "There are many different kinds of hot |
| mouth, esophagus and stomach caused by | | | | sauce on the market, and parents who say they know |
| Hot-sauce-a.k.a "Hot Tongue." With investigation | | | | the dilution to use so it won't sting, or say they only use |
| medical services have discovered the 'hot sauce' was | | | | one drop, are wrong. It's done because it hurts. It stings. |
| intentionally put/forced into the child's mouth for | | | | It burns. It makes you nauseous." |
| punishment-primarily when the child's misbehavior is | | | | Kendrick added, "There is no room for pain and |
| related to the use of their mouth: talking back to adults, | | | | humiliation and fear in disciplining healthy children. I think it |
| lying, biting someone, swearing, spitting, refusing to eat, | | | | is a rather barbaric practice to say the least." |
| etc. Variations on the punishment include the use of | | | | Giorgio Kulp, a pediatrician in Montgomery County, VA, |
| acetic acid (vinegar), lemon juice, soap or some other | | | | says that the use of hot sauce on children is |
| highly noxious substance. | | | | dangerous because of the risk of swelling and the |
| According to the Washington Post, "'Hot saucing,' or | | | | possibility of triggering unknown allergies. He notes that |
| 'hot tongue,' has roots in Southern culture, according to | | | | "Every child's reaction, physically, is different." |
| some advocates of the controversial disciplinary | | | | Virginia is the only state to legally stipulate that putting |
| method, but it has spread throughout the country. | | | | hot sauce in a child's mouth for discipline is abuse. |
| Nobody keeps track of how many parents do it, but | | | | Given the dangers of 'Hot-Saucing' for discipline, why |
| most experts...including pediatricians, psychologists and | | | | then, when so much is at stake does society look the |
| child welfare professionals, [are]... familiar with it." | | | | other way? |
| An associated method of inflicting pain on children is | | | | The answer is not complicated. People cannot have |
| the force feeding of hot-peppers. Two child | | | | empathy toward children's plight until they can honestly |
| psychologists reported that this "can result in | | | | acknowledge the mistreatment from their own |
| anaphylaxis or cause significant burns and damage to | | | | childhood experiences and examine the shortcomings |
| developing tissues in the mouth, esophagus, intestinal | | | | of their own parents. To the extent they feel |
| walls, stomach, and colon." More info on "hot-saucing" | | | | compelled to defend their parents and guard their |
| "Hot Saucing" has been promoted on some Internet | | | | secrets, they will do the same for others. By continually |
| sites, in Today's Christian Woman magazine and in a | | | | insisting that they "turned out okay," they are |
| Focus on the Family book. Focus on the Family is a | | | | reassuring themselves and diverting their attention |
| Fundamentalist Christian agency located in Colorado | | | | from deeply hidden unpleasant memories. |
| Springs, CO. | | | | This is why, when someone says, "'hot-saucing' is |
| McIlhenny Company, the largest manufacturer of | | | | abuse," many people react as though a door |
| Tabasco sauce considered putting a warning | | | | barricaded since infancy has been smashed open. This |
| message on their bottles--"We oppose the use of this | | | | barricaded, unconscious door has prevented them |
| product as punishment of children-a.k.a. Hot-Saucing." In | | | | from committing the most dangerous, most |
| the final decision making process McIlhenny declined to | | | | unpardonable act of disloyalty imaginable, disloyalty to |
| implement such a warning for fear of reprisal to no | | | | their parents. They are afraid that by opening the door |
| eminent good for children. | | | | to the truth, they might fall through into an |
| Medical contraindications for using Hot Sauce as | | | | abyss--abandoned and cut off from any possibility of |
| disciplinary action: | | | | reconciliation with the parents they love. The fear is |
| "Hot-saucing" a child's tongue can cause choking, and | | | | irrational. Denial--about what was done to them, and, |
| burn the mouth, esophagus and stomach. | | | | now what they are doing and allowing to be done to |
| "Hot-saucing" children's tongue/mouth is legally abuse in | | | | this generation--is the current danger and the real sin. |
| Virginia. | | | | Reconciliation and healing can only begin with an |
| Carleton Kendrick, a family therapist from Boston, MA, | | | | acknowledgment of the truth. It is futile to hope that |
| recommends against the use of 'Hot saucing.' He said | | | | lies, evasions and excuses can somehow erase the |
| that it can burn the child's esophagus and cause their | | | | memory and the pain of ones' past injuries. |