I'd say what he does to his children borders psychological abuse. That is, if you can believe media reports. I saw a story just a few weeks ago on how it "really is" behind closed doors at his place and it was fairly disturbing reading. For starters, it stated he refuses to touch his children see: his fear of germs and fastidious nature, when they need to be physically near each other they must be cleaned from head to toe, all must wear face masks, he insists the children wear those doll type clothes that they have appeared in in various photos the media has shown, they have dyed hair and what looks like makeup. His minders recently decided the behaviour was too much to witness anymore and took them out for the day. They took the kids swimming. First they had to buy these poor kids swimsuits. They arrived at the water park or swimming pool or whatever it was and the kids just stood on the side and looked at the minders for direction on what to do. The source said it was clear they had no idea how to interact with the other children, what to even do in a pool let alone swim. When they are at home, they aren't allowed to make noise, play as kids, or virtually speak to him without prior arrangments. I dont know how much time they spend with him, or who is in charge of them most of the time, but it sounds like he is involved enough in their lives to make these ridiculous living conditions.
Its hard to know what to believe these days when you put the media and Micheal Jackson together, but its clear there is definately something abnormal about how he treats them. While the picture of him dangling this baby off the balcony makes your blood run cold, and I hope to God this is a one off instance of rampant stupidity, it would be nice to know he has no fear of physical contact with this one. The range for 'normal' is fairly large, but he just fails to fall into any part of it.