TO SPANK OR NOT TO SPANK?
I found the following article veryinteresting in the fact that it distinguishes the different types of spanking. The term used for spanking, that is not attractive and very harsh in wording is "corporal punishment". I feel that proponents of using alternatives to spanking use this terminology as a scare tactic and attempt to make parents feel bad about using physical discipline. Corporal punishment reminds me of something an officer gets if he goes a-wall or if an inmate in a prison system fights or goes against the system that is set up within the actual system. It seems to be an extreme terminology.
The following is from the wordnetweb, and is a definition of spanking:
Noun
S: (n) spanking (the act of slapping on the buttocks) "he gave the brat a good spanking"
This is how I view it as well. I, as a parent, have older children now, but did use spanking as a form of discipline in my home. I don't believe in using objects such as belts or switches, but to use my hand, with the child bent on my knee and deliver one quick smack on the bottom. It seems to me by having the child bending over and then talking to him while he/she is bent over waiting for the spanking, is a far better deterrent then the spanking itself. Timeouts worked on two of my three kids. The other one responded by having objects taken away from him for a time. I use to give the child that responded to objects being taken away a lot of time outs, and all it did was frustrate both of us. Spanking, for me needs to be done in extreme situations. So, I created a "quit time" for him. This gave him an opportunity to calm down and not feel like he was a bad kid. Time outs set him over the edge and I would give in so I did not have to hear the screaming and stomping. He constantly felt as if he was doing something wrong and acted out with time outs. He is 17 now, and when he gets frustrated, I recommend a quite time, to reflex on where he is at during a tough time. He still uses them.
All in all, moderate spanking is not harmful in my opinion. I guess one would have to decide where the line is with extremes of actual discipline verses child abuse.
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/06/Hillsborough/Parents_waver_over_wi.shtml
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=spanking
I agree. I don't think that spanking is harmful to children. I know it's very cliche but the phrase "My parents spanked me, and I turned out just fine" comes to mind. I come from a family of 4 children and our parents used spanking as a form of punishment. I think it was a very effective punishment for me because knowing that I could be spanked if I misbehaved usually (not always, but usually) made me think twice before misbehaving. And it wasn't so much that the actual spanking was terribly painful. For me, the punishment came from knowing that I was in trouble and that my parents were disappointed. I do agree that when taken to extremes(using objects, hitting too hard, etc.), it can become abusive. But when used in moderation, I don't have a problem with it.
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