Big difference. I'd guess that most karate students are in class because they want to be there. This man forced non-willing participants to perform so he could get his jollies. It's really not much less serious than sexual molestation by the one in power.

karate is a disciplined sport. Just fighting to fight is not. This makes me want to throw up!!

Please tell me you typed your comment before your brain woke up.

He is the father and probably wants too teach his boys to defend themselves. The problem lies in whereas, people, whom like too run their mouth wants to be able to do so without repercussions. I get tired of people trying to say what you believe is good for everyone! Time for the state and government to stay out of home affairs. Crap they can't even run the freaking country, stay the hell out of the lives of others. You people cry on these posts about some small crap when the big problems are ignored, like maybe gang warfare, illegal immigrants getting SS checks from our pockets. Welfare going out of wack like it wasn't already a problem.

Darrell,

I agree with you about government intervention into our lives. It's all about control. It's as if our children belong to the state and we are simply their caretakers.

With a little more research I'll know for sure, but so far it seems that the Pedro Delgado- Bristol clan was living mucho on govt. funds. It was HHS that notified the cops about the fight. Young Pedro is 26 and was on parole and estranged from the mother of the kids.Hmmm, this Pedro Delgado-Bristol has me a bit stymied...the two last names...don't suppose something's illegal, do you?

The problem lies in whereas, people, whom like too run their mouth wants to be able to do so without repercussions

Darrell, you've got a good head start on the curse words, but the grammar part of your statements could use a little work.

Joe Biff -- Maybe Pedro Delgado-Bristol is not a good person, but I will judge him only by his actions; I won't make assumptions about him because of his name. People from Mexico and Spain have been living in the United States for hundreds of years (remember that some of the western states were owned by both Mexico and Spain before the United States won them through military might). I have friends with "Spanish sounding" last names whose ancestors have been in this country longer than my husband's ancestors who immigrated from Europe. It is racist to assume that everyone with brownish skin or certain surnames is an illegal immigrant.

Maybe I should sign my real name to this comment -- that way, you can make "Stupid Polish Jokes" about me. Never mind the fact that I don't have any Polish blood (I married into the name)...and that it's been almost a hundred years since my husband's ancestors touched Polish soil. Would it be fair for my children and grandchildren to be considered "Stupid Poles" because of their last name?

1st, wtf does karate have to do with this? any respectable school wouldn't allow sparring between children until they reach an acceptable maturity, skill level and age. if you were in a sham school, or your kids were, shame on you or your parents for not checking them out and asking questions first, moron.

2nd I'm shocked, SHOCKED that this happened in maine and not alabama or arkansas!

cmon - good comment. You are exactly right about the martial arts. My son is a 1st degree black belt, took classes for 6 1/2 years beginning when he was 10 years old. They had children as young as 4 in a special class for small children and NEVER did they make anyone hit someone that didn't want to do it. Mind you, that was in a VERY controlled, disiplined, highly supervised atmosphere.

This man that hit his small child with a shoe to make him keep fighting is a complete idiot. Good thing he gets off on watching people fight cause he will probably see a lot of that behind bars. Hopefully he will even get his own ass kicked with some shoes, shanks, etc...

Thank goodness the Mom took charge of the situation and hopefully it will soon be a distant memory for the boys.

there is no comparison. this grown ass man watched while his own two kids fought one another.

This guy sounds like a MAINEiac!

One word for the Hombre with Dos names: Loser!!!

Last I heard, martial arts were considered defensive sports and not meant to start fights. For some of you who insist that the government stay out of the lives of those who are trying to raise their children, what this man was doing with his two boys is considered child abuse and in that case, the authorities needed to step in. Children are not our property to do with what we wish. Considering how some of you write, I suspect that while you're writing on a message board, somewhere there is a carnival running itself.

Darrell,

What are you talking about? What the hell?

darrell-1708517 -

i hear what you're saying but somehow i'm more concerned about the kids... sorry.

Well it's only a matter of time before giving your children soda pop and candy is considered child abuse.

I don't agree with what this man did, nor do I assume his motives were misguided but well intentioned.

But I do believe that a person has the right to instill the skills he or she believes the child will need to survive without interference from the government except in the most extreme cases.

I remember playing with my brothers is the back of a station wagon as we rode coast to coast. Those were some great times. Now everyone has to be strapped into a seat, especially kids. Safer? Sure. Fun, not at all. Do we have a choice? Not anymore.

A judge called Delgado-Bristol's actions "depraved" and barred him from having unsupervised contact with either boy.

My wife and I moved from Maine last March and I can tell you that is not the norm there. I guess there are Red-Necks every where...? I'm willing to bet that the boys in prison will force him to fight everyday... Smile :-)

actually, same thing with me and my brother when we were kids. sure. all we did was fight and bicker, the old sibling thing. finally, after my parents had, had enough, my dad said, "fine, you want to fight all the fu<king time, fight! get it out of your system, cause were sic of listening to it." i think the punishment on the father was overly harsh. Dont get me wrong now, i am one against beating kids every inch of the way. Still, also need to take into consideration, how people are taught to punish kids when they were kids. After all our parenting skills are passed down from how we were raised. It also falls into respest of what we realise as right and wrong ways to punish as we grow. i was beat when i lived at home, and not just time to time, or when i did something really bad. So i dont condone beating a kid. The time has never came that i felt my kids deserved a beating, so i guess that is something i learned from mine. Still kids, especially bros, and sisters, fight. Sometimes it can be a real pain in the @ss when they are close in age. Then again, it doesnt give the reason why he had the boys "duke it out". If it was just because of constant fighting back and forth like when i was a kid, give the guy some parenting classes, and therapy sessions, not prison. If he was training them so he could make $, or had bets going on the side with other people as to who was going to win, ok good call.

Good thing to think about tho, if parents constantly fight, or favor 1 child over another, the kids will fight between themselves as well.

There were 5 kids in our family and we never laid a hand on each other nor did we ever get in a fight at school.

Never.

Animals fight.

glad to see one person got to come a perfect world. still, kids dont get to choose who their parents will be. Wondering what world and utopia you actually came from too, where everything was so perfect. Then again, even so, you had it lucky. Not everyone can say they were not raised like animals i guess. At least how you put it anyway.

LU-404506

We ARE animals... we have just found ways to get things done that don't always involve fighting.

Aggression and fear are built into each of us, and we have to learn to control it. What happened in this instance is regrettable... it seems the father chose not to act as a referee and demanded... something... from his kids.

Regardless, individuals who won't learn how to fight, or how to defend themselves and those they love are merely going to be end up being victims to people who have no qualms about taking what isn't theirs.

The world is not a safe and happy place where bad things sometimes happen... parents who won't teach their kids to defend themselves and those they love are not being good parents. For the most part, here in the white-picket-fence US of A... we live fairly safe and protected lives. We are free of the dangers the majority of other countries face on a daily basis.

Remember this: The people who keep our country safe are killers who know how to defend themselves and those they love. It is WHY we are able to have this relatively safe existence.

I'll say it again... it is regrettable this man handled this the way he did... and I understand why his wife reported him like that... but I do believe children need to be taught what fighting is, and when it needs to happen.

right and let the prison inmates watch him get his ass kicked by "Big Bubba".

Lu, I agree that while kids need to leanr how to throw a few punches in their lifetime, they should have been throwing them on the father, not on each other...I'm not sure he was "teaching" them how to fight. It woudn't be quite fair on the younger boy. And lets not forget..he plead guilty. So on some level he knew it was wrong.

Megalodon, your words defending this creep would've had some merit if the article didn't specify that the father hit his child when he no longer wished to fight.

Also, do enlighten us, did "duking it out" with your sibling stop any future bickering afterwards?

i'm not saying that the dad is right or anything, but really people, come on! sometimes it is necessary to fight. not your siblings though. i have four children and i had better not see or hear of them fighting each other. but i live in a not so good neighborhood where some of the kids think there is nothing wrong with beating up on someone else. now i am pretty sure there are kids in all kinds of neighborhoods who do mean things like that. in a case like that you have to fight. and i tell my children to fight if the have to. my son was written up at school for punching a child in the face. of course my son tried to let the teacher know there was a problem but she ignored it and the other child bit my son so he punched him. fighting dosen't make us animals.when used for the right reasons it makes us humans who love ourselves enough to protect ourselves.

Yeah, it could be lots of things. Maybe the father wanted the kids to learn to defend themselves. Maybe the father was sick of the kids fighting and punished them this way. I know lots of kids who had that happen. It didn't make them bad people when they grew up.

The world isn't a bowl of cherries and the time to learn how to fight is very young. I think this 2 year sentence is ridiculous, but whether he should have unsupervised access to the kids depends on what was really going on there.

This "father" is sick! There are too many other ways to take care of this issue.

You want to teach them defense, fine! Teach. Tired of them fighting? My oldest two sons were put to work to burn out the excess energy, the youngest two ran laps to the end of the block and back. If they had enough energy to be mad, they had enough energy to do something constructive with it.

Now, I did have a face off with one of my sons when he was sixteen. Close to a foot taller than I am. What went through my head? This situation should never have arisen (I failed or it would not have happened) and what will I do if he acts on his anger?

I stared at him and he stared back. A 16 year old boy full of testosterone is unpredictable:) He stomped away and later apologized. Then, as now, I think about the turns I could have and should have made and this episode would never have happened.

(too soon old, too late wise)

Violence should never be the answer......though I hope he get's his A$$ beaten.

P.S.

The junk father, not my son:)

as parents none of us always make the right choice. they should start him off with parenting classes and then if he proves himself to be a monster, then a greater sentence should be carried out.

I hope not

They will, because the visits will be supervised.

I know, make him fight an imate twice his size and have them kick his ass.

His A$$ is going to have more than a foot in it in prison!

wow

You need mental help and to be sterilized.

totally agree with you Warren.

LU, need to step into the real world now.... not nice to make such comments to others for simply saying what they think.

Hey there, Warren...suggestion: read the article about the hombre in the Bangor Daily News. Then you will realize this so called "family" has been destroyed for some time. Kids were visiting dad. Mom & dad don't live together. He was on parole. HHS turned his sorry butt into the cops. So you know welfare was floating this whole show. Again, another clear case of one thing...the kids are the victims.

I fail to understand just how forcing one's children to fight helps them understand apologizing. The only thing agression teaches is more aggression. And in the real world, Megalodon, Warren, aggression brings people to jail. Or to the electric chair. Great lessons to impart to one's children, indeed.

Here's a full article, Megalodon.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/141246.html

Go ahead. Defend the freak with stories of your own abusive daddy.

Warren McDonald...Back in the day, funny uncles molested their nieces and nephews. Doesn't make it right by saying "back in the day". Back in the day, it was okay for a guy to work all week, get drunk on the weekend and abuse his wife and kids if he felt like it just to "work off his frustrations."

I raised two sons. They are as close as brothers could be. But beat the daylights out of each other? Not a chance. As a single Mom, I taught them that bully behavior was not going to get them No. 1 spot on anyone's hit list. Nor, did I have visions of them joing the Crips and Bloods.

This dude will get his in prison. Bubba gonna make him wish he never learned how to fight.

gia,

Go to the store and buy some class. We all know how you handle things you don't agree with. With verbal abuse, which is not much different than physical abuse. Posting this makes you no better than this father, Pedro. Real nice.

Agreed.. If only you could buy class. Instead Gia resorts to cyber bullying. She's worse than Bad Dad.. She is determined to shove her comments down our throats.. which from what I can decipher involves all of us being forcibly sterilized. We get it Gia.. you think this guy is a monster and should get LOP or DP...

The guy was on parole, so it isn't as if they had an intact family while he served prison time anyway. Kids will fight, and usually we as parents break it up...we don't hit one with a shoe when's he's said 'nuff!

And what's the excuse for your friend Warren McDonald in the post right above yours?

stupidity, it can happen,

whiteman says "stupidity , it can happen". Well, he certainly is qualified to make that statement.

whiteman, ever here the expression "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool . . . "?

PEDRO - the Spanish form of "Peter"

Kings of Portugal - Pedro I, II, III, IV and V

Monarchs of Aragon - Pedro I, II, III, IV and V

Pedro Romeno is a research scientist, at Google Research, working in speech recognition technologies.

The list goes on, meanwhile, legends in their own minds don't want to consider any possibility except the name "Dick".

Megalodon - I agree with you. My dad's family "duked it out" all the time growing up. And I'm talking elementary age!! If the investigation concluded that the father was doing it for enjoyment, then yes prison time is fitting, but he obviously also needs some kind of therapy. If the boys were just bickering nonstop...and this was a last resort...then that judge totally just ripped apart a family.

Oh, really? Teach them to solve their problems with their fists rather than their brains? Only idiots use that method, and grown ups who do it don't end well. Grown up society does not tolerate aggression and parents who teach their children aggression do belong to jail.

Megalodon, I honestly hope you haven't decided to breed.

My parents used belts and switches on me when I got out of line. I turned out fine. How many times have I heard such nonsense? If you continued that cycle of abuse, you didn't turn out fine. Parents should teach their children well. If you use violence to correct them, you've taught them to use violence to solve their own problems. The jails and prisons are full of such people.

As a boy, I was corrected with corporal punishment. I chose to break the chain. I raised two sons while never laying a hand on them. It took some effort and a lot of patience, but they are both responsible adults today that have never seen the inside of a courtroom. Neither would ever strike another except in self-defense.

Megalodon...I spent more than half my life working with kids. They don't fight if their parents don't. That kind of violent behavior is learned whether or not it's passive-aggressive or blatant.

These two poor little boys are 4 and 6 years old. Stand by. By the time they are 14 and 16, they'll graduate to guns and picking off innocent bystanders who look at them crosswise.

The judge in Pedro's trial ruled the following: 4 years for assault, two suspended / 364 days for child endangerment / 6 months for violating his release (unknown at this time) conditions / and no unsupervised contact with the children.

TominNH...This man's mentality would find dog fighting acceptable. That is what he was emulating with his sons. Some deep dark perversion to seeing blood drawn whether it's human or animal.

This guy's part animal and proves it.

I understand what you are saying. However, I could NEVER encourage my children to hurt each other, nor stand by while they physically harmed each other. Not even for two minutes. Not even for a "valuable learning experience."

We have three sons and we teach them that hurting someone physically is always wrong. They understand this. Oh, occasionally the little one will hit one of the older ones (when he is frustrated and feels powerless). But the older brothers have the self restraint to not hit back. We parents give the little one a penalty for hitting, and he is learning that violence is not the way to solve problems -- it only creates other problems.

I think that consistently modeling and requiring nonviolent behavior is a better method for raising a nonviolent child.

You know what I call people with no understanding of violence? - Victims.

Keith, I'd like to know, how often do you use this method to solve your problems? Cause this is really awesome, AWESOME advice : if you have a problem with someone, beat the crap out of each other and it'll go away. Right.

keith...I grew up the only girl in a family of 7 boys. I never had to use my fists to get my point across. Only my little girl brains back then.

Certainly, there are better methods of parenting than what my mother did. I certainly read the comments and really kind of agree with all. Good for you, ewent. Brains are best. gia-1007883, this only happened once. I see your point, especially in today's society. What worked in 1972 may work or be seen with a different perspective in 2010. Violence only brings more violence. Fighting never should be a solution, but in my case, I developed a respect for my brother as I saw him and I bleeding. The blood looked the same. WE are the same. Cal_Chi, Yor suggestion is one of great value. WE can only teach when the student listens. Those made to fight, especially Very young men, probably won't learn to listen. Thanx for the comments. As for the guy that is sitting in jail, this should show these young men where violence leads to eventually.

I guess depends on how severe this mans kids fought each other. They could have had injuries. There is a point of breaking it up before it gets out of hand.

Indeed, your place is behind bars. Too bad you aren't there.

And you have obviously never seen a pair of youth boxing gloves.

Brian...Now when they decide they don't need boxing gloves just bare knuckles, they have great past experience in how to settle their battles if the issues don't go their way?

cadetduke...And this idiot knew that when the 6 year old kicked him in the stomach, the 6 year old was smart enough to avoid his appendix, his liver or kidneys? Insane parents these days. Can't find time to spend with their kids and when they do, they want them to act like neanderthals.

4 and 6 year old children do not need Daddy to show them violence. The world is full of violence everywhere they go.

Well put, ewent.

Einstein never did as a child. Did he miss something cadetduke?

Children were probably fighting, and the father got tired of it and told them to get it all out of their system.

One of them refused, or refused after a bit of fighting, and the father didn't control his emotions and told the kids to keep fighting... hit the younger one with a sandle it sounds like.

Father definately messed up, but siblings fighting is nothing new... and sometimes they really do need to just beat on each other for a bit to get it out. If you read through the above posts you'll see plenty of people with their own experiences on the issue.

I believe the mother reacted the way she did because she was not in the loop... and probably believed the father did that to them. The father should have definately stopped the fighting when one of them wanted to quit... but I believe the punishment is a bit too harsh in this case.

The punishment wasn't nearly enough. He essentially forced his children in a gladiator fight. Such people aren't fit to be parents.

!

Made their bed..People who disagree don't punch each other out unless they are out of control. That's the point with this nut job of a father. He has anger issues and he is irrationally out of control. Dollar to a donut his wife left him for physical abuse.

This kind is born with the belief that they have a right to get their way and when they don't, they resort to violence.

Rickpicking...Parents have rights that are sane and rational. Not rights that jeopardize a young child's mental state or in any way abuses them. The point here is that he abused his parental rights when he "forced" his sons to fight. If he had to "force" them, he's no man. He's a coward who just wants to prove his manhood the only way he can. By overpowering the powerless.

BS. The sick fu-k just wanted a show. You talk about bullying, but there's no difference whatsoever between what the freak did and what bullies do. Bullying one's children doesn't teach them to deal with bullying.

Ummmn.. okay. I wasn't there and neither were you. I am not defending him.. I am just saying he may have had good intentions but obviously he went about it all wrong because he's an idiot.. I am not defending his actions and I am certainly not defending bullying.. including cyber bullying.

ledgeroo...The government doesn't own our kids. They expect parents to act like mature minded adults when parenting. Obviously, for a small segment of our society that's asking too much.

What our government does is protect those who cannot protect themselves. That means if parents are negligent to their childrens needs or in any way abuse them, the government has the right to protect them.

Correct.. the govt doesn't own our kids .. they just think they do.. as I stated in my post... I agree with you and I never stated otherwise... Parents have become so lazy and complacent most of them are just fine with this..

Is this what they're doing to the parents of kids who bully another child. Take away their privilege and make them go to parenting courses till they're fit to parenting??

Not sure I have seen that yet. You sound like this could happen to the parents of the kids who bully someone to suicide.

Rickpicking...Volunteer at an abused childrens center. You'll get an eyeful that you won't soon forget. Parents who refuse to take full responsibility for their children's actions need to be held accountable. Until the recent generation of "Not My Child" came about, all parents were responsible for their kids. Unfortunately, some parents in those days went too far with discipline.

Children used to be removed from a home where abuse occurred. It wasn't until the last 3 decades that parenting classes for abusive parents began.

ewent

agree with almost all you have said but") I have this comment

My mom worked for state of CA and MI. I am going off memory only (could be faulty),but more often than not (in the past 3 decades) the children are given back to the family (better to hold a family together). In many ways this is good. The problem is, too little follow up. Over loaded case burden, etc.

It ain't the 70s anymore.

So gia - it's okay if it was done in the 70's but not now?

No, it was not okay in the 70's. Some may have come out of the situation with only a few mental scars. Others may have turned to a life of violence because of it. If we are to learn from our's and each other's mistakes, we don't repeat them.

Peabody...All of us oldies have dinosaur stories but it doesn't make it right. Parents back then only knew what their own parents taught them. Society today holds parents up to a different standard because we have much more education than our parents did and...much more opportunity. This is supposed to make us more civilized.

I don't know about you. But, I always notice that those with the least education are often the ones who resort to violence more easily.

Just a thought

we train our children not to fight and to live in a Civilized world. Than through politics we teach our children to fight in the War world............

I know it is off topic, but I think that it is only marginally so. It is "fighting".

You are racist scum.

American man 09,

Aren't you late for a Tea Party meeting?

see 6.3 - Mr. "UN-American man" By the way - which "America" do you represent? Canada? Mexico? Brazil?

I'm sorry you had such a bad childhood. All you can do now is try to be different than your parents are.