Should parents spank their kids?

Answer 1

YES! IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS. I WAS SPANKED AND I THANK MY PARENTS FOR DOING IT, I DESERVED EVERY THING I GOT. AND IF I HAD NOT BEEN SPANKED I IGHT BE IN JAIL. IT IS NOT ABUSE UNLESS YOU LEAVE MARKS.

Answer 2

if the child is misbehaving then yes!! i mean seriously to many parents let children get away with stuff and get scared of there children. parents have to put there foot down and be the adult! im not saying beat your child but when they act out and do wrong your doing the world a favor by spanking them! it teaches them there are consequences when you do wrong and you cant do anything you want when you want!

Answer 3

Spanking is one of the most controversial discipline methods.I believe it is OK to spank your children.Both my parents spanked me and I love them for it and behind every spanking was an explanation why which taught me right from wrong.The overall objective is to teach your children right from wrong and to make good decision on their own but this is my opinion if your uncomfortable with spanking do what works best for your family.

Answer 4

I think it depends on the child and the parent. I spank my daughter, but I don't have to do it often. She has learned that when I say no, I mean no. When I say stop, I mean stop. She's learned that I will back myself up with assertive action if my rules are not followed. I am not talking about wailing the soap out of her or beating her with a belt-I am talking a good, firm pop on the butt.

By contrast, when she does good, I dole out heaps of hugs and praise. I get to do that alot! (Sometimes I just make up excuses to give out hugs lol!)

Some children don't need physical reinforcement for good or bad behavior, others do. It's a parent's job to recognize this and act accordingly.

Answer 5

Sometimes as a last resort you have to spank them to give them kind of a wake of call that "time outs" just can't give.

Answer 6

Yes. It helps teach them who is boss. Once they learn that, it's 50 times easier to teach them everything else they need to know in life. Eliminate the power struggle upfront.

Answer 7

I have 5 children and I have never spanked any of them. They`re all adults now and I`m very proud of the people they`ve become. Why would anyone want to hurt the people they love most in life?

Answer 8

As needed---and know the difference between a swat with an open hand on a bottom and ABUSE!

Answer 9

Depends on the child.

Spank only as the last resort.

Answer 10

Never. Why?

Violence against one's children is one of the most awful and common travesties in the world today. Swat, smack, spank, tap, etc. - they all involve HITTING children. Those that do hit their children get angry when logic and compassion begin to overshadow the "surety" of their decision to hit. It is nothing less than assault and battery. I believe the anger comes because if most admit it is bad to do they would have to then admit that the people who did it to them were somehow wrong even though these were the people they loved and trusted most in childhood.

How would you feel if someone smacked you when you didn't do exactly what they wanted you to do? How would you feel if you were physically punished at work? Hitting is not only lazy, it is extremely dangerous. Hitting is hitting is hitting - to call it anything but is to overwhelmingly sugarcoat, and manipulate, the truth. I don't care if your parents did it and you "turned out fine". If you were fine you wouldn't agree with utilizing violence against someone who is extremely vulnerable and defenseless. Please stop now, while there are still some souls (and bodies) to be saved. Children who are treated with empathy and kindness and disciplined in a positive manner will grow up to be empathic, kind, disciplined and happy adults. For those of you who constantly utilize the argument that "all the non-spanking PC kids are the ones getting preganant early and doing drugs", you are so wrong I cannot even muster enough words to explain it. Go to a prison for violent criminals. Ask how many were hit as children. Watch every hand rise in the place. A child who is treated with love (you cannot "lovingly" hit someone, it's an oxymoron) and structure very rarely becomes a criminal adult. They don't feel the need to rebel because they know they can turn to their parents when they are feeling angry or unhappy. Stop victimizing your children. You are teaching them nothing - except, perhaps, to lie to you more efficiently and hide their true feelings internally. Violence against children makes for depressive, angry, and anxious adults.

Everywhere else in the law, hitting someone is considered assault. End of story. For those of you who think hitting your kids "works", I suppose you can also argue the fact that when people hit their slaves it made them work even harder. Sure. It didn't matter that you were killing the soul and spirit of all of them. At least you were obeyed. At least they 'took direction'. A greater social deviation I have rarely heard.

People who hit have a desperate need for control; so desperate, in fact, that they justify it by saying it "works". There are thousands of ways to handle a difficult child without resorting to punitive punishment. How any lawmaker can believe hitting is assault but not make that law true with children is disgusting, hypocritical, and proof that we are all dictators in our own way.

Assault is just that, no two ways around it. For those of you who justify it with "ooh, but I don't beat them", or "it's only one smack" or "but they mind me now" I say, the amount of love and trust you lose each time you strike that child can never be reinstated. You know you are wrong, "my parents did it and I'm fine" is a ridiculous excuse, much like me saying "My parents were neo-Nazis and I'm fine, see, I'm even practicing the same methods." If children don't deserve our respect, then why do we deserve theirs? How much need for control must one have to resort to hitting their children? There are always other ways to discipline - ways that work in the long-term.

There is absolutely no passage in the Bible that says "Spare the rod, spoil the child". The term was introduced in a Samuel Butler poem called "Hudibras" and was meant to be a scathing satire of Puritanism. Poor guy would be rolling in his grave if he knew nobody "got the joke". More on Hudibras here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hudibras...
Proverbs 13:24 says "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." Nowhere does it say hitting your child is, in fact, 'discipline'. People who don't read their Bibles believe this is so because rather than educating themselves on positive parenting skills they blame their god for their inadequacies as parents. I am not a Christian, but when I quote something I make sure of its author first.

There was never a reason to hit children. Those who say things were "better" when everyone hit their children are still hitting their children - and nothing has changed. For shame!