As a father...

[cruzer8]

I'm at a loss to explain assaults on women. I hope they are both innocent, but even the allegations are difficult to communicate to my 8 and 10 year old boys who idolize these athletes. I continue to say that I don't if they did these things. But, I'm beginning to feel like an apologist or a lawyer instead of a Steeler fan.

Treat their mother, sisters, aunts, nieces and female friends with respect and they will learn by observing you. They see you every day, Ben and Santonio are two men who have no day-to-day contact with your sons. You can remind them that you do not treat women in this fashion and that it is unacceptable.

We have two boys (13 and 10) they don't understand why anyone would do this, hopefully, because I treat their mother with respect and admiration.

Pappy

Pappy,

It is exactly that failure to understand that is the problem here. My boys want to understand why someone would do this. Being a good example is only part of the battle. Helping them make sense of this muddled, gray world is often the real challenge.

Start with explaining to your boys the difference between "accused" and "charged".

Hope that helps.

Accused or charged, what's the difference? A black eye is a black eye. Next thing you
know Heath Miller is accused of naked-driving a motorized bar stool over the Roberto
Clemente Bridge. This is starting to get ridiculous.

They're football players, not priests.

Oh wait........