Child of Pain

This is a memorable episode. I still cry at the ending.

This episode focuses on the Graham family. John is an alcoholic and a child-beater. These are two harsh topic that are presented together in this episode. In truth, a lot of times they do go hand-in-hand. Apparently the town (Dr. Baker and Miss Beatle) are aware of the problem. Back then, they couldn't do much about it. But as a town, they decided they would.

After Graham is beaten unconscious, the town is ready to give the father a beating he'd never forget. But Caroline and Dr. Baker sees his drinking problem as a disease. I'm not sure this was a concept back in these days as it is now, nor if even the strongest of Christians would have sympathy for the father. Charles is convinced by his wife to try and help the father.

Though the outcome is good - John is "cured" from his disease, and we feel good at the end, I know that this may not be a happy ending. What happened after they went home and the stresses of life came back? They didn't have AA or other support groups to get them through. Except for Charles who wasn't a very good mentor since he hadn't gone through it himself, John had nobody to turn to when things got rough. An alcoholic can't just walk away without temptation. I fear the outcome for this family may be short-lived.

But still, it's nice the problem is solved in sixty minutes. If only it were that easy.

This is one of the episodes in season 1 I think anyone must watch it takes on a serious subject child abuse and alcholism. This episodes is heartbreaking bc even though Grahams father beats him and abuse him when he's drunk he never remembers doing this to his son when he's sober and the boy still loves his father.He doesn't even want to be taken away form his dad.Its really sad. Wheb your an alcholic its not easy to get cured as we can see in this episode.And the only way you can get cured is by someone watching your every move or in todays case (rehab). The withdrawal symptoms imo is the worst as you can see in this episode you begin to hallucinate and see things and just like drugs that's the reason its so hard to quit bc of the withdrawal symptoms. Once your through the first gate(hallucinations,and withdrawal symptoms) it goes better.But it takes a lot of willpower and the help of someone else to get through it. This episodes just like all the others are crammed full of life lessons. The first one we see is that even his father beats him unfairly he still loves him 2nd if you start to drink for whatever reason its not going to fix the problem its just going to make ir worst. And 3dly never judge a person always try to help him/her first bc you don't know the bkack story. Now continue to episode 21

The opening plot of "Child Of Pain" had Graham Stewart preparing for the evening supper. John Stewart -- a predictable drunk -- demanded Graham Stewart to supply him whiskey at the supper table. The youngster destroyed both bottles of the whiskey. John Stewart took a leather belt to his back instead of his behind -- in a drunken matter. Miss Beadle took Graham Stewart out of school to see Dr. Baker. Dr. Baker -- along with Charles Ingalls and Miss Beadle -- noticed the welts on Graham Stewart's back from his pa's leather belt. Little did they know the beatings became a repeated pattern in the home. Graham Stewart -- without warning -- received up to six beatings in the last month from a drunken father.

The town council later had a discussion of what to do with John Stewart. Mr. Kennedy wanted the father in jail for child beating. The other members wanted him tarred and feathered to a pulp. Caroline Ingalls believed differently about John Stewart. Later, Graham Stewart was severely injured from the beatings of his father. Charles Ingalls later took Graham Stewart out of the home; he then took the child to Dr. Baker's Office after the severe beating from his pa.

John Stewart demanded that he see Graham Stewart. Charles Ingalls said no; he eventually grabbed John Stewart by the coat and took him to see Graham Stewart and witness the abuse he did to his boy. Caroline Ingalls took care of Graham Stewart; Charles Ingalls took charge of caring for John Stewart. Charles Ingalls believed -- with reluctance -- every person had something decent in terms of character. From there, he and Charles Ingalls improved on the place -- first by removing the whiskey from the house, then started drinking water, planting a corn crop, and finally having a discussion with Reverend Alden. By then, John Stewart realized he could not avoid the issue for his actual abuse of Graham Stewart: Lucy Stewart died after giving birth to Graham Stewart. The End Result: A Fat 10 from the 1974-1975 Television Season!! An A!!

After 3-4 decades of watching Little House reruns, I've realized that any episode with Dr. Baker in it is usually a really good one. I say that because he plays a dominant role in Season One, and though he is only in the beginning of this episode, he helps set it up to be a strong one - along with Charles, Mrs. Beadle, and Caroline and the girls. The actor playing the alcoholic and abusive father in this episode gives a great performance. The young boy playing his son is also very strong in his role. Speaking from personal experience, Charles Ingalls knows the old-school fundamentals to helping someone "dry up" - a dated phrase but accurate in this case - or get off drugs (as we see in a later episode): Quit cold Turkey and despite the DTs work (detox) the booze out of your body through physical labor to achieve mental clarity as to why you drink and hopefully end your physical dependence on alcohol and heal. It's one of those episodes that deals with an issue of the time period that was also an issue when the show was filmed and is also not surprisingly still an issue today - or rather issues: alcoholism and child abuse. Note: It's not as dark an episode as I've perhaps made it sound. It's well-balanced with the dark and the light, as classic Little House episodes usually are.