A generation or two ago, eyebrows hardly may have been raised at the notion that a dad's job included taking his son out back and teaching him how to throw a proper punch. But with seismic societal shifts on everything from spanking to schoolyard tiffs, some dads say arming Junior with the proper fist and block is not on their parenting to-do lists.

It will either be the parents that teach them about violence or it will be the police. I think they're better off learning about it from the parents ...