The Florida father charged with child abuse after being caught on tape encouraging his teenage son to fight another teen claims he was protecting his son from bullies.

"I apologize for what I said but I do stand behind protecting my son," Philip Scott Struthers said exclusively on "Good Morning America."

A video released by worldstarhiphop.com shows Struthers, 41, coaching his 16-year-old son, Jake, through a fistfight.

When his son throws a punch, Struther yells, "Good."

When it appears Jake has pinned the other teen on the ground, Struther yells, "Punch his eyes out...Slam his head on the ground."

"When I see that video too, I'm just as disgusted at the things I said. What everybody doesn't know is what transpired six months prior to that...threats to my son, vulgar... comments said on Facebook and other social media sites," Struthers said.

Struthers and his wife, Kimberley, said that they decided to bypass school officials and handle the bullying problem themselves. For six months, the family told their son not to fight.

"We found that the schools just seemed to make the matters worse. There doesn't seem to be anonymity with going in and discussing these things. It gets back to the perpetrators," Kimberly Struthers said. "We've always told Jake this too will go away just like it's gone away before…ignore it, you're not going to fight."

Things didn't get better. Jake says that his rival accompanied by a group of boys showed up at the famiy's Tampa, Fla., home.

"I came home from school and he was in the front yard and there were a bunch of kids there…I knew he was coming over and I knew it was going to happen either way and I didn't want it to happen," Jake said.

Jake, who said he's never been in a fight before, decided to fight the other teenager. He defended his father.

"I know what he did was wrong…he was just looking out for me, making sure no one else would jump in the fight," Jake said.

Philip Struthers was arrested by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office for child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor on April 12.

In court, the judge ordered Jake's father away from all minors including his own children.

"Your relationship with your child is over with. You cannot see, live with or communicate with your minor children," Judge Walter Heinrich said.

Philip Struthers said that nobody was hurt in the fight and in the end the boys shook hands.

"Things happened quickly. The emotions overwhelmed me. I was just caught up in the moment. I absolutely regret saying those things," Struthers said.

Yeah, if the dad just stood by and refereed that would be one thing I suppose. I watched the video and it was like the dad was one step away from beating the crap out of that kid himself.
Still, I thought the judge's sentence was a little harsh. Taking all his parental rights away and charging him with child abuse? I don't know about that.

Teaching your son to defend and stand up for himself...no problem.

Going overboard and encouraging him to seriously harm someone...problem.

Yeah, if the dad just stood by and refereed that would be one thing I suppose. I watched the video and it was like the dad was one step away from beating the crap out of that kid himself.
Still, I thought the judge's sentence was a little harsh. Taking all his parental rights away and charging him with child abuse? I don't know about that.

Well would you want someone like him watching over your kid? He's clearly not fit to parent, take the kid away.

that explains a great deal.

that explains a great deal.

Care to expound on that, or are you just here to throw around insults, and then pitch a **** fit when I slap you around for it?

Since I didn't actually insult you (you perceived one, but none existed) ......

That said, your REACTION to my statment actually illustrates a point nicely. That you perceive someone bullying you and reacted with a threat of violence and insults.

Interesting.

Since I didn't actually insult you (you perceived one, but none existed) ......

That said, your REACTION to my statment actually illustrates a point nicely. That you perceive someone bullying you and reacted with a threat of violence and insults.

Interesting.

Does it? I wonder if we can tell by people's posting styles here, how their parents raised them....who was spanked, who wasn't, who was grounded, who was taught to be assertive, who had a bullying parent....

Indeed. I'll bet no one here would guess that I grew up with an alcoholic, womanizing father and a mother who was a former prostitute, or that they used to put me in a burlap bag and beat me with reeds when I was insolent. It wasn't that bad, to be honest. From my perspective at the time, it was pretty standard, really. For example, I only recently realized how odd it was that they ritualistically shaved my testicles when I turned fourteen. Anyway, to each their own, I guess.

Just as an aside my original thought was a stun gun I wanted you to insert, feeling it would be far more painful. Might have been something to do with the regular assertions against my character.

But you DO have an aggressive posting style. As far as you're concerned thats not a weakness so why on earth would you take it as an insult.

My posting style DOES tend to be a little more passive aggressive. I rarely resort to verbal insults or name calling. Then again, I wasn't raised to solve my problems with violence.