Opinions on Corporal Punishment?

Question

I am a firm believer in spanking little butts when needed. I've heard a lot of people and opinions about it and I'm kind of curious what response I'll get on here from this... I think that our generation has lightened up on our children and pushed way too much with the opinion: positive reinforcement instead of negative... I think we've pushed it to a fault... I mean, look at all of the crap teenagers are getting away with in schools... if kids had done a fraction of what they do now back in the mid 20'th century, they would have been whipped to a pulp!!! I'm not advocating abuse in any way, but I do believe our society could be suffering from our lack of discipline as children... maybe I'm way off base here?

Please, comment away...

Answer 1

I totally agree with you! I'm a firm believer of corporal punishment, and get so tired of hearing "Spanking is child abuse". It's such crap! I have to great books regarding child rearing, and corporal punishment. It should be required reading for new parents. 'What the Bible Says About Child Training' by J. Richard Fugate, and "The Strong-willed Child' by Dobson. I spank my children, and let me tell you. I'm aske ALL the time by other moms "How do you get your children to listen?" I just want to slap the mom! It's called DISCIPLINE DUH!!!! Discipline is what's lacking in todays children. You see it every where. The moms that walk and talk like limp noodles, "oh Johnny don't do that, don't do that, be nice Johnny, be nice Johnny. Johnny I said don't do that, Johnny, Johnny." I eventually want to spank dear little Johnny.!

Answer 2

I don't think you're off base, kids are definately way less disciplined now......but I don't think we should be looking at not using corporal punishment as the reason. Look at all the crazyness in society now. It's rare to find a family that's not affected in some way by drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, abuse of some other kind, lazy and irresponsible parenting, and family breakups. Add that to the rise in crime, teen pregnancy, and removal of a lot of teacher's rights in schools (I'm not talking about corporal punishment, but now some schools can't even suspend students), and it's no wonder kids now are doing what they're doing wrong. For my part, I was raised with no corporal punishment at school or home, and I went to uni, became a teacher, and am now becoming a foster parent! I did however grow up with discipline. There were rules, and if I broke them there were consequences, and I didn't get a chance to do it again! But you have to consider also that my parents were mature enough to have kids, sober, employed, and made sure they knew where I was, even when I was *gasp* 13 or 14, which apparently now means you no longer have any control over your kids, lol! I think you ask a good question, but you probably can't isolate one specific reason for it happening, or if you can, I would say it comes down to a lack of any kind of parenting. Children need parents, full stop. I think the bottom line is that however people choose to discipline, it needs to be done, but honestly, I've seen (and know personally) quite a few people who have no qualms in smacking, and their kids are now the ones who are on drugs, committing crimes, etc etc. I honestly don't think spanking in and of itself is necessarily good or bad, it's how it fits into the whole parenting package that makes a difference. Just my opinion, hope that helps!

Answer 3

OK, I'll comment a bit. I'm sort of waffling about this subject, because I'm not convinced that hitting a child is NEVER advisable, but I believe the following points against corporal punishment are valid:

Society has changed since we were young, and tying current wild behaviour to a lack of corporal punishment is at best a stretch. Kids are watching violent video games, they are seeing violence on the news, they are seeing what would have been called "heroes" twenty years ago....football stars, famous musicians, etc. do tons of drugs, go to jail, get into fights, etc. The list goes on and on. To say that hitting the kids is going to counteract all that is assigning an awful lot of power to a spanking.

In general, children WANT a parent's approval. Witholding approval is a powerful tool, when approval for positive actions is strong. Positive approval must be active for this to work, however. One reason corporal punishment does sometimes work is just that it represents a parent's disapproval. It's not the hitting itself that does it. The child WANTS his parents' love.

Looking at who's in prison, we find a large percentage of people who were beat often and hard by their parents. It clearly didn't work for them.

Clearly, a lot of parents hit their kids in anger because it makes THEM feel better. You can observe this these days in department stores, groceries, etc. Watch the parent's face. They are NOT thinking of the wonderful way their children are going to act in the future.

You really need somebody more actively and completely against corporal punishment to bring up all the points on this issue, but the above may help to get a discussion going here.

Answer 4

all I know is when it was ol school and used in the home and at school there was a lot less mess than there is w/todays youth. I have popped my girl 2x and have not had to repeat and the behavior was rectified
I come from a spanking fam and pops sometimes took it a little over the edge but in retrospect as a parent i deserved it and am better for it

Abuse is abuse and I'm not ?? it's out there but it seems that these newer generations of time out and no spanking and letting children freely express there emotions kids got real bad and turned into rotten, direspectful teens, who in turn are no work ethic disrespectful punk young adults.

as for me I am trying my darndest to keep the ol school fam values intact

Answer 5

You are right on target. A smack on the butt every now and then, or a smack on the cheek as a child gets older, never seriously harmed anyone, and the child knows they deserve it. Time outs fail to work when kids are starting to skip curfew, stay out all night. A child who knows he'll get a spanking is more likely to not disobey, because they don't want a spanking. Way back when, there were no such things as computers, video games, etc. to take away when our parents were young. They got spanked every now and then and they turned out fine. I got it, probably could have used more, and I turned out fine. My brother was a bit of trouble, but at 13 or 14 he got picked up drunk, and mom and dad made him spend the night in juvenile hall. Many would have said that mom and dad needed to pick him u, take him home, and put him in time out. I'm thinking he learned a hard lesson. He never did that again. Mom and dad still punished him when needed. As they did the rest of us.

Like one poster said, if a child runs off at the beach, you look for him or her for some time, and when you find them, you put them in 5 minutes of time out? They'll just do it over and over again because you refuse to make them stay. A good butt smack takes care of that within seconds. No, you don't do it out of anger. You tell them to stay and play, and if they run off, you will spank them. So the child already knows what's coming if they choose to run off. To get a spanking would be the child's choice, because if they didn't want one, they'd stay put.

Other times I'd see kids acting up, screaming at the store, and time outs won't work there. One smack does.

Answer 6

I totally understand where you are coming from. I do smack my kids when need be and i don't really care what other people do if i have done it whilst out in public. I feel that alot of parents out there in these day and ages have alot to answer for. I don't think there is such thing as A.D.D or A.D.H.D, i think its a reflection on what lack of parenting the children have had, i mean seriously a 2 or 3 year old should not be given suppressants if you know what i mean. So my answer to your question is YES i agree with you that bring back the strap in our schools as some kids of today have no respect for our elderly, or peers!

Answer 7

I completely agree with you. One thing that makes me upset is the newer age idea of replacing a major consequence such as spanking with a 1 min per year time out ?????? That to me is nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I use that very method for minor stuff, but come on - Your 5 year old runs off at the beach, and you can't find them for 20 or so minuets you don't sit them in time out for 5 minutes, you pull down the pants and spank that bottom good!

These days I think children are lacking a healthy fear of getting in trouble. That fear which everyone says is so wrong, kept many of us alive to reach adulthood, not to mention taught us the lesson of consequences for our actions.

Good Luck

Answer 8

I think that "corporal punishment" answers itself. It's "punishment". Punishment is used at all levels, state and in families. Corporal punishment is simply a way to discipline children, and since so many people do it, it works. I spank my daughters when they disobey or misbehave. It's nothing abusive, just about 5 swats on their bottom with my hand.

Answer 9

The way I see it, spanking only did me good. My caregivers when I was young only used corporal punishment when I did something that warranted it, and I quickly learned to stay away from behaviors that were considered undesirable. Thus, my children, when I have them, will get their little butts spanked when they do something along the lines of hitting mommy or daddy or a sibling or torturing the family pet, etc....

Answer 10

Personally, I try to avoid it as much as possible. I have always had the crap spanked out of me but I don't think it was absolutely necessary. I think that reasoning gets better results. I don't have kids, but I've baby sat kids who's parents said it was okay to spank As a last resort would I spank. I just don't believe it's necessary. I also practically raised my little sister since she was nine. I took all her spankings voluntarily and she turned out way better than me. So go figure.