If there’s anyone who knows Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s parenting style, it’s his own mother.
Bonita Jackson is defending her son following allegations that the 29-year-old football star beat his 4-year-old son with a tree branch, ultimately landing him on the NFL’s exempt list.
“I don’t care what anybody says, most of us disciplined our kids a little more than we meant sometimes,” Jackson told the Houston Chronicle. “But we were only trying to prepare them for the real world. When you whip those you love, it’s not about abuse, it’s about love. You want to make them understand that they did wrong.”
Jackson said that she and her husband, Nelson Peterson, were “big disciplinarians” while raising their kids. She also stressed that her son, who has six children, has sought out counseling to learn alternative discipline methods.
“My son is not a perfect man by no means, but in the end I’m proud to be his mom,” she said. “For the most part he is trying hard to be a good parent, he’s working at it. People are judging him, but they don’t know his heart. This was never his intent.”
Photo Credit: SIKids.com