We would like to take this opportunity to remind all parents out there that although sometimes the children may do some unthinkable stuff that angers the very stem cells in your bodies, please, do not go overboard in administering correction.

A story published in THE STAR yesterday was a clear indication of an instance where a parent really lost control of her ability to scold her child within the legal confines, and clearly ran off into the dark realm of abuse.

In the article, the mother of the teenage girl reportedly attacked her with a butcher knife after it was alleged that she had stolen a bank book which had some $200,000 in it. The story said that the wounds the child received were so severe that her bone was exposed after she was chopped. Other reports claimed that the child's other hand was fractured and there were swellings to her head from the brutal beating she received.

The mother at the centre of the beating saga was sentenced to three months imprisonment at hard labour after she recently appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

Now, we know that as parents there are times when children will do things that will push you to the edge, but parents have to try to hold on to their sanity, as hard as it may be. If you think that you cannot hold on to it then try to postpone the beating until the next earliest convenience. The country could do without another battered child or imprisoned parent. We need all the healthy families we can get.