The lessons from a few words and pictures are not easy ones to face, but they are important. Every child counts. Every act has consequences. A slap at the wrong time can harm. A word at the right time can help.
Children grow up.
The slaps and the words will echo in the world we have to live in. Claudia Glenn Dowling has been a staff writer at Life magazine for 15 years. I went to Vermont and showed Ernie this story, as it appeared in the magazine. I started from the back and showed him the last picture with his mom. She's playing with him and he's happy.