Mother accused of burning son's hand on hot stove, says she's not 'bad mother'

Miriam Rebolledo, 29, a mother accused of child abuse over allegedly putting her son's hand on a hot stove to discipline him. (Miami-Dade County)

A Florida mother is in hot water for allegedly putting her 6-year-old son’s hand on a hot stove to discipline the boy for hitting other children.

Miriam Rebolledo, a 29-year-old Colombia native, was arrested last Thursday for aggravated child abuse. She said she did it to discipline the “rebellious” child after a school employee informed her that the son hit other children, WPLG reported.

"My son is so rebellious that he got to the point to kill an animal. What am I supposed to do? Stay home without doing anything for my son?" she said in Spanish. Rebolledo allegedly said she put the boy’s hand on the stove as a punishment to help prevent him from growing up to be a felon or someone who would commit violence against women, the report said.

Miami-Dade County Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan told Rebolledo that such punishment is not appropriate parenting.

“Maybe in Colombia it's OK to take the child and put their burning hand on a stove, but in the United States, it's not," Fajardo said, according to WPLG.

"You have the cutest son. I met him this morning," the judge added. "He is very sad that he has to go to foster care."

Rebolledo told reporters last Thursday that she was not judged fairly and is not the “bad mother” she was made out to be.

Rebolledo “stated she could not take it anymore, and had to use a more extreme form of punishment to teach the child a lesson,” WFLA reported, citing the police report.