Adrian Peterson Says He Still Spanks Son With Belt

Though news of Adrian Peterson using a “switch” on his son led to him being charged with felony child abuse, and missing all but one game back in 2014 (plus it also led to a guilty plea for a misdemeanor) the now-Redskins’ running back admitted in a recent interview that he still spanks his son with a belt. This disclosure came in a Bleacher Report profile that was published on Wednesday. In it, he explains the tweaks he’s made in his disciplinary style since pictures of the injuries sustained by his son in 2014 went viral.

For full context, here’s the related excerpt from BR:

Four years removed from the trial, he still uses physical forms of punishment to discipline his children—”I had to discipline my son and spank him the other day with a belt,” Peterson says—though he employs other techniques as well. He will take away their electronics, place them in different timeouts around the house, have them do wall squats. “There’s different ways I discipline my kids,” he says. “I didn’t let that change me.”

Spankings are sometimes necessary, though, he insists, especially after repeat offenses. (The belt incident came after he gave his son four chances to correct his wrong.) Peterson says he finds comfort in knowing these lessons will help his children make better decisions in the future. Corporal punishment helped him become the man he is today, after all—a man who loves his kids. “My kids love me. When they want something, they come ask dad,” he says. “They enjoy being around me.”

As noted by Pro Football Talk, even if Peterson were not to face legal issues for this interview answer, he could still face discipline from the NFL since the league reinstated him on the condition that he go to counseling and also “have no further violations of law or league policy.“

Per BR:

As for his pledge not to use switches? Peterson says he generally avoids using them.

“Nine times out of 10,” he says, “that’s not the case.”