You have probably heard the expression, "Spare the rod, spoil the child." Do you agree with it? Perhaps you were spanked as a kid. Was it appropriate? Some people see spanking as an outdated method of punishment or even child abuse, while others view a swat on the bottom as a parent's prerogative. Where do we draw the line when it comes to disciplining our children?
Parenting Expert
Parents have employed spanking as a disciplinary method for quite some time. Several thousands of years, certainly. Until the neo-parenting revolution of the late 1960s/early 1970s swept common sense from child rearing, most parents spanked. I was born in 1947. I was spanked. Not much, but each one was memorable. I cannot say that being spanked improved my behavior. I don't think it did. Nonetheless, I am a non-violent individual and have managed to conceal my private pathologies well enough to pass as a respectable member of society. When, as a child, I was spanked, I did not go out of the house looking for some smaller child to whup, as we say in the South. The worst consequence of being spanked is that I came to loathe my stepfather. But then, I am certain that I would have loathed him regardless. I talk to people my age who were spanked, some with belts20or other devices, by their parents. With very rare exception, they claim to love their parents. They also claim that they deserved the spankings and that the possibility of a spanking served to keep tighter boundaries on their potential for misbehavior. The social sciences research finds that today's kids are significantly more prone to violent behavior, directed toward both self and other, than was my generation, yet today's kids are not being spanked nearly as much. Correlation does not prove causation, but this says something, doesn't it?
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