Forget respect for sports, teach children not to abuse

I find it sadly ironic that letter writers Kyle Lagratta and T. Griffith contributed numerous column inches to defending lacrosse and pontificating about teaching their sons respect for sport ("A culture of entitlement" and "Culture of respect missing in lacrosse, youth sports," Readers respond, May 11) but not a single word about teaching them not to physically or psychologically abuse people they purportedly love.

The tragedy of Yeardley Love's death is that in this day and age, 50 years after the birth of the women's movement, fathers and mothers apparently still are not teaching their sons and daughters not to abuse the ones they love, or that no-one should ever put up with abuse from one who claims to love them.

Abuse, in any phase of any relationship, is not acceptable, and no one should ever feel that it is something that simply must be tolerated. My heart goes out to the Loves, but these two letters to the editor indicate to me that parenting, not the lack of discipline and leadership in lacrosse or our schools, was the underlying cause of this tragedy.

Dayle Dawes, Arnold