Do you think too many people spend their years parenting afraid of the big bad CPS.....?

Question

If you raise your kids in a way that is healthy then there is no reason to fear that Child Protective Services will take them away from you. If you do fear that, maybe you need to re-evaluate your parenting.

I don't spank and have very well behaved children. I refuse to parent my kids with the cloud of CPS hanging over my head. Anybody else?

I am asking because I received an answer to a previous question about parents worrying so much about what others think of their parenting, the answer basically said you have to worry about it because of CPS...i personally think that is bull****.

Answer 1

I agree with you and think that's crazy, I have a 15 month old son, and haven't worried once about CPS. I also don't spank, don't yell. I use discipline, just not in those ways. I feel at a young age, they are simply learning the world, and spanking is not an answer to that. But if that person who said that is so worried, then maybe he/she has something to worry about themselves??? Like I said, I have no worries at all, but that's just me. :)

Answer 2

I agree with you, I've never worried about CPS here, have never done anything to either of my children to warrant someone calling CPS on me. And I've spanked my kids before too, and still don't worry. The only time I ever spanked my kids though was when each one of them ran out into a parking lot (like at the grocery store.) It was the only way I could think of to communicate to a 2 or 3 year old that you DO NOT do that, it's a safety issue. My spanking the child then didn't hurt them nearly as much as if they had been hit by a car. Of course, they're 16 and 12 now, so we're just a bit beyond spanking. We're now in the removal of priveleges phase of disipline.

Answer 3

I agree with you. Just because they are called, does not mean anything is wrong with the parenting skills. CPS HAS to investigate all allegations and it's great that they are doing their job.

A small little accident could mean CPS at your door though and prying into your life. It's embarrasing. School teachers are quick to report things. My daughter had a scratch once in 1st grade. She was mad at me that day for grounding her and she lied to the teacher that I did it. CPS was at my door in an hour. It IS scary.

Answer 4

I never worried about it and I've had three CPS visits over the last fifteen years that never went beyond a ten minute interview. All kinds of nutters can call CPS on you and they are obligated to check it out, but they see real neglect and real abuse all the time. One from a neighbor who was mad her husband was constantly trying to pick up on me. One from my ex who was stirring up crap for a court case. One from the school because of a nutty little kid spreading lies about my daughter. Child protective agencies are not worried about different variation in parenting styles. They want kids to be eating well, sleeping and attending school. They want them to be safe of consistent and clearcut physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Beyond that, if you are decent parent they are not a threat.

Answer 5

There are so many things that constitute child abuse nowadays that most parents who are perfectly fine parents still fear CPS. When I was little, there were some days that I was sent to bed without supper ( if I misbehaved at the table, or did something paticularly bad at supper time ) my parents had no problem dismissing me from the table, and sending me to bed without supper. I think it was a perfectly good punishment, one that fit the crime and wasn't abusive at all.. but I would be afraid to do that to my kids.. What if they told someone that I had sent them to bed without supper?? CPS would be knocking at my door. It's not just beatings and verbal abuse that CPS comes for.. it's innocent things that parents think are perfectly fine (and are perfectly fine) that they can come for too..

Answer 6

Bag full of oranges? Psychological abuse? There are so many ways you can do crazy **** without there being any actionable evidence for CPS.

You must be from LA or NYC or some other lame place. Here in the Midwest we can punish our children when they do bad things without the fear of CPS. Only in extreme cases is it even considered an option to complain to the authorities.

When I was a kid I got whipped whenever I did stupid or disrespectful things. It worked. I never complained because I deserved it, and my parents never got in trouble because they did not do anything wrong.

Hope all you coastal hipsters realize there's more to your status than just being superior to us "rednecks" in the interior.

Answer 7

We spank, we don't worry about CPS. We are not breaking any laws. Now if the laws were different, we might reconsider how we parent.

Answer 8

the thing with cps is i know and have known people whom should have their children removed from their care and are repeatedly turned into cps. cps continually does nothing. and i am talking about disgusting living conditions, unbathed, unfed children, and cps continues to turn their backs. now maybe it is just where i live, but cps wouldn't help these children if these parents turned themselves in.
i have been turned in, with some bogus story. and when these workers came to my house, i explained to them that if you p*ss someone off and u have kids, chances are if they are slim, like they are in my town they automatically call cps on u. i absolutley agree with the statement that if you just care for your children the proper way cps is nothing to worry about-EVER!

Answer 9

no, I think if people have a concern about the CPS, maybe they r doing something they know is wrong. I'm not afaid to raise my kids with consequences to bad behaior.

Answer 10

So enable me get this straight away - you could keep in mind issues that occurred to you once you have been 3 years previous, and you have been smart adequate at 3yo to lie in a perception which you would be medicated??? Im calling a poe in this one. undesirable troll. undesirable!