The children involved are aged four, seven, and eight, with police launching an investigation several months ago after the middle child told a school nurse about the way the parents treated the children, the Metro newspaper reports.

During interviews with police, the children told of almost abuse from the parents when one of the failed to abide by the parents’ wishes.

“Mom hit me with a shoehorn,” one daughter told police, according to Metro.

According to the children, the couple also punished them with stabs from a knife and fork hard enough to cause pain, but not hard enough to cause visible injuries.

The parents deny the charges, instead claiming the children’s bruises come from injuries sustained during falls during gymnastics and athletics practice.

“Why would I hit my beloved children?,” the mother said to police during an interrogation.

Prosecutor Pontus Klang, who formally filed the charges of gross violation of a person’s integrity (grov fridskränkning), told Metro the indictment is based on interviews with the children as well as personnel from their school.

Ever since a formal complaint was received, the family has been placed in a supervised family care facility.