Medical services have reported they are seeing an increase of children needing treatment for burns in the mouth, esophagus and stomach caused by Hot-saucea.k.a Hot Tongue. With investigation medical services have discovered the hot sauce was intentionally put/forced into the childs mouth for punishmentprimarily when the child's misbehavior is related to the use of their mouth: talking back to adults, lying, biting someone, swearing, spitting, refusing to eat, etc. Variations on the punishment include the use of acetic acid (vinegar), lemon juice, soap or some other highly noxious substance.

According to the Washington Post, "'Hot saucing,' or 'hot tongue,' has roots in Southern culture, according to some advocates of the controversial disciplinary method, but it has spread throughout the country. Nobody keeps track of how many parents do it, but most experts...including pediatricians, psychologists and child welfare professionals, [are]... familiar with it."

An associated method of inflicting pain on children is the force feeding of hot-peppers. Two child psychologists reported that this "can result in anaphylaxis or cause significant burns and damage to developing tissues in the mouth, esophagus, intestinal walls, stomach, and colon." More info on "hot-saucing" http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin9.htm

"Hot Saucing" has been promoted on some Internet sites, in Today's Christian Woman magazine and in a Focus on the Family book. Focus on the Family is a Fundamentalist Christian agency located in Colorado Springs, CO.

McIlhenny Company, the largest manufacturer of Tabasco sauce considered putting a warning message on their bottles--"We oppose the use of this product as punishment of childrena.k.a. Hot-Saucing." In the final decision making process McIlhenny declined to implement such a warning for fear of reprisal to no eminent good for children.

Medical contraindications for using Hot Sauce as disciplinary action:

"Hot-saucing" a child's tongue can cause choking, and burn the mouth, esophagus and stomach.

"Hot-saucing" childrens tongue/mouth is legally abuse in Virginia.

Carleton Kendrick, a family therapist from Boston, MA, recommends against the use of Hot saucing. He said that it can burn the child's esophagus and cause their tongue to swell. This can create a potential choking hazard. He said: "There are many different kinds of hot sauce on the market, and parents who say they know the dilution to use so it won't sting, or say they only use one drop, are wrong. It's done because it hurts. It stings. It burns. It makes you nauseous."

Kendrick added, "There is no room for pain and humiliation and fear in disciplining healthy children. I think it is a rather barbaric practice to say the least."

Giorgio Kulp, a pediatrician in Montgomery County, VA, says that the use of hot sauce on children is dangerous because of the risk of swelling and the possibility of triggering unknown allergies. He notes that "Every child's reaction, physically, is different."

Virginia is the only state to legally stipulate that putting hot sauce in a child's mouth for discipline is abuse. Given the dangers of 'Hot-Saucing' for discipline, why then, when so much is at stake does society look the other way?

The answer is not complicated. People cannot have empathy toward children's plight until they can honestly acknowledge the mistreatment from their own childhood experiences and examine the shortcomings of their own parents. To the extent they feel compelled to defend their parents and guard their secrets, they will do the same for others. By continually insisting that they "turned out okay," they are reassuring themselves and diverting their attention from deeply hidden unpleasant memories.

This is why, when someone says, "'hot-saucing' is abuse," many people react as though a door barricaded since infancy has been smashed open. This barricaded, unconscious door has prevented them from committing the most dangerous, most unpardonable act of disloyalty imaginable, disloyalty to their parents. They are afraid that by opening the door to the truth, they might fall through into an abyss--abandoned and cut off from any possibility of reconciliation with the parents they love. The fear is irrational. Denial--about what was done to them, and, now what they are doing and allowing to be done to this generation--is the current danger and the real sin.

Reconciliation and healing can only begin with an acknowledgment of the truth. It is futile to hope that lies, evasions and excuses can somehow erase the memory and the pain of ones' past injuries.