Reggie Bush Tells WFAN He Would Consider Using Switch To Discipline Daughter, Then Clarifies
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has come under serious scrutiny after doctors called police to report child abuse based on injuries to Peterson's 4-year-old son, whom Peterson had disciplined by hitting the child with a switch.
In an interview with WFAN on Tuesday, Detroit Lions running back Reggie Bush answered affirmatively a question on whether he would ever consider using a switch to discipline his daughter when she is older.
"I would possibly consider it depending on what she did," Bush said. "[Kids are] going to get in trouble, they're going to do things, and all you can do is use your best judgment, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to use my best judgment. I'm not going to say I'm not going to spank her ... hopefully she won't do anything bad enough to where I have to, but also at the same time, kids are going to be kids, and whatever discipline I give her, it's always out of love and it's always because I want the best for her, for my daughter, for my kids."
Confronted by the hosts, who disagreed about the notion of using a switch to discipline a child, Bush sought to clarify his earlier remarks.
"I didn't say a branch or a stick," Bush said. "I said spanking. Spanking is different than a branch or a stick."
As far as whether Peterson should play - the Vikings sat him Sunday but have said he can play this coming weekend - Bush said yes.
"He's a good guy," Bush said. "I don't know him on an extremely personal level, and I don't know all the details of the situation, what happened, but I know me and a lot of other guys who were born in the 80s and even before then were raised differently and disciplined differently, and I was one of those kids, I got what we called 'whoopins' with the belt and stuff like that. For me growing up, it was normal, and not to say, not to try to downplay the situation at all, but I think that if it's genuine and obviously if - I'm sure there was no ill intent against his own son, that he should definitely be allowed to play football."
Bush said players should have due process before punishment - rather than being suspended with pay until legal proceedings conclude - and he pointed out that social media fury makes it difficult for due process to happen.
"We live in a world nowadays where social media has just taken over, and it's almost become situations now where guys, when they are dealing with issues, it's almost like the social media world has already deemed him as guilty before he's given his due process just because of what's come out," Bush said. "I think you can make a case for both situations. I think there has to be due process, but at the same time, you can't damn a guy as guilty before the facts come out just because there are pictures or whatever."
Though Bush said earlier in the interview he was hit with a switch as a child, as were many of his friends and current teammates, Bush made it clear, that his discipline of his daughter would differ from how Peterson disciplined his son.
"I definitely will use my best judgment to discipline her depending on the situation, on what happens ... will obviously not leave bruises or anything like that on her," Bush said, "but I definitely would discipline her harshly depending on what - again - what the situation is."
