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We want to know: Was Baltimore 'mom of the year' Toya Graham right to slap her son?

On Monday, amidst the Baltimore riots, a mom made headlines when she saw her son on TV throwing rocks at police and “turned up to spank him home,” in the words of a local news outlet.

Authorities praised Toya Graham for slapping her 16-year-old son, and many people turned to social media to dub her “mom of the year.”

 
 

"I was shocked, I was angry, because you never want to see your child out there doing that,” she explained to media.

Many parenting experts agreed that desperate times do indeed call for desperate measures

““While hitting and swearing at a child aren’t the preferred parenting practices, best practices don’t apply in the midst of a crisis,” Amy Morin, psychotherapist and author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, told Yahoo Parenting. “You wouldn’t ask your child politely to step out of the way of a moving car.” 

 But Graham’s actions didn’t come without criticism.

Mom of the year or this is how violence is learned?” asked one commenter. 

“Don’t [confuse] punching in the face and public humiliation…[with] proper discipline,” said another.

So, we want to know: Should Graham be praised as “mom of the year” for slapping her son? Was she right to do it? Or is it perpetuating violence? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.