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Adrian Peterson's mother defends his parenting, speaks of his upbringing

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

For some, the Adrian Peterson controversy comes down to personal feelings about what is acceptable when disciplining your child.

Peterson, the Vikings star running back who was indicted for causing injuries to his 4-year-old son, faced physical punishment when he was growing up, and his mother didn't hide that fact. Peterson's mother Bonita Jackson, speaking to the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday, said her son was "trying hard to be a good parent" and stuck up for Peterson. The Chronicle story said Jackson said she "used her hand, switches and belts to occasionally spank all of her six children in order to correct their behavior."

"I don't care what anybody says. Most of us disciplined our kids a little more than we meant sometimes," Jackson, who lives in the Houston suburb of Spring, told the Chronicle. "But we were only trying to prepare them for the real world.

"When you whip those you love, it's not about abuse, but love. You want to make them understand that they did wrong."

According to the police report, which was obtained by Sports Radio 610 in Houston last week when Peterson was indicted, Peterson said in text messages and police interviews that although he felt bad for his son's injuries, he uses "whoopings" or "spankings" to discipline his children. He spoke of that in a matter-of-fact tone, the police report said. Peterson is accused of disciplining his son with a switch.

Jackson told the Chronicle that her son is getting help to learn other disclipline methods, like having the child stand in the corner for five minutes. She told the Chronicle that Peterson was trying to disclipline his son the same way he was when he was growing up.

"My son is not a perfect man by no means, but in the end I'm proud to be his mom," Jackson told the Chronicle. "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."

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!