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Alec Baldwin's parental role should not be in question based on this one incident with his daughter, Ireland. Making judgments about Baldwin as a person and about his parenting abilities is unfair when based on a voicemail and countless media interpretations. It is up to family counselors, lawyers and judges to study in depth the family's history, and to make judgments in the best interest of the child.

His behavior, on the other hand, is another matter. Baldwin was completely wrong to lash out at his daughter in such a destructive way. He likes to soften his conscience by saying it was "stress induced." He has taped a segment on The View to discuss "parental alienation." I do not think he wants to look at the problem at hand- he is responsible for verbally assaulting his daughter. Discussing parental alienation, at this point, though it is an important and worthwhile subject, is dodging the bullet. His response is typical of so many people in society who refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

All parents lose their cool at times. Children can make you crazy. But skilled parents do not include cursing, name calling, degrading remarks, and threatening statements, such as Baldwin's threat, "I'm going to straighten your a* out when I see you."

I assume that Baldwin loves his daughter. Like other fathers, he wants her to be confident, successful, well-mannered, and happy. I feel sure that he wants her to feel loved by him and for him to feel loved by her, as well. I know he wants her respect. I cannot imagine a father wanting any less.

In addition, he wants her to live with him.

So, Baldwin calls his daughter and she does not answer the phone. Baldwin loses his temper and severely tongue-lashes his eleven-year-old. He admits in the voicemail that he knows it is wrong.

"You don't have the brains or decency as a human being", Baldwin says in the voicemail. "I don't give a damn that you're 12-years-old or 11-years-old or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the a* who doesn't care about what you do as far as I am concerned."

I wonder. What if Ireland had a legitimate reason for her phone being off? What if her mother had something to do with it? Could Baldwin have given Ireland the benefit of the doubt? What if he had made a way for her to respond without fear of an attack?

He could have left off the name-calling: "you're a rude, thoughtless little pig?" What if he left off the insults to her mother? How would the outcome have changed?

If Baldwin

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