How do your children react to being spanked? How do you respond to their reactions?

Answer 1

I have never spanked any child and I have 5. Why would I want to cause pain to someone I love? They are all adults now and I`m very proud of the people they`ve become.

Answer 2

It hurts me worse than them,but I don't agree with the thinking that spanking is bad.Trying to reason with 2-4 year olds is an exercise in futility.If children don't realize there are consequences for unacceptable behavior they are not manageable when they are too old for spanking.I am 52 years old,raised 3 sons and a daughter,I spanked their little butts when they were little,by the time they were 5,it wasn't necessary any longer.They were prefect children from that point and now positive,successful adults.Now that isn't theory it's fact.Too many children's first contact with discipline is law enforcement.

Answer 3

I used a very different approach to all of this and I think that it worked. My belief is that you apply the right correction to the right problem. If my son was too young to understand a danger and refused to listen to know, I used my cooking spoon to give him one swat and a loud NO! Rarely did I have to do this after just one or two times, because just holding up the spoon and saying NO! made him stop. He began to see this was a danger signal.

When he would talk back and refuse to listen to reason, I would give him a time out. Then we would sit down and talk about my concerns and his feelings and ideas. Then we would make an agreement about it.

Also, sometimes there were story books that were good, like the Berenstein Bears where the children learn not to be greedy or to cheat. We could talk about that sometimes and what to do when people take your things.

We had an understanding that when we went into a store, we would look at things. Then we would make a plan about what he liked best, and when appropriate he would receive a gift. After a few times of reminding him how it works, he was fine in the store after that. We also let him see how he might earn some credit towards something he might like to have, and working together we went and purchased it together.

We did all of this at a very young age. I know that it worked because as a teenager he saw me holding the yellow cooking spoon. He asked what was wrong and I said it had melted in the dish washer. He said, well don't throw it out, it's part of my childhood. I want it.

And I said, well, I think there's something more inside your heart than the memory of a cooking spoon. And he just smiled.

I believe in self respect and self esteem. And I don't ever want my son or daughter to lose that most precious gift of dignity from God.

Answer 4

I don't spank my son. It doesnt' "teach" him anything about what he's doing wrong, only that if you're bigger you can hit. I'm very thankful that my husband and I both don't believe in spankings because it's much easier having both parents on the same page. My son is happy, healthy and very friendly. He doesn't misbehave like a lot of kids I see and is reading at the top of his class (He's 5 and reading at a 1st grade level) We use natural consequences when possible, and timeouts when not. An example of a natural consequence is when he was 4 he wrote on the wall with a marker, we gave him a sponge and some soapy water and asked him to clean it up... the whole time explaining that we only write on paper.. we keep a tidy home and this is just disrespectful. It's his home too, we get that but if he's going to make a mess he's gotta clean it up. After scrubbing for like 15 mins he realized he couldn't get it off. So we grabbed the paint and had him cover it up... he learned his lesson, it's much to much work to bother writing on the walls and he's never done it again. Thats the big difference between punishment (spanking) and dicipline.

Answer 5

I'll agree with Sam, I had the same childhood with spanking....
I do spank my son, but again, like Sam, no barebottom and not across the face, usually a slap to his thigh.
He knows that if I do that, then he did something wrong, and he usually doesn't do it again. I don't spank alot, only when its really really bad and I know he knows its bad..... because he knows the consequence is to be spanked.
I usually just go with the time out thing.... I hate spanking..... but sometimes its needed.

Answer 6

When I was spanked, I would scream and cry. My mom would hold her ground, though, and not apologize or act as though it was an unjust punishment. She tells me that she always felt REALLY bad during and afterward, though.

I'm all for spanking, as long as it's not done in a humiliating or truly painful way. (Meaning no bare bottoms or slaps across the face, things like that.)

Answer 7

I spanked my daughters once when they were about five, not long or hard. I felt so bad about it, I never did it again and they grew up fine and relatitively trouble free.

Answer 8

I never spanked my daughter...there was no need to resort to physical violence against my child.