There are apparently a few topics that are quite the hotbuttons among parents, and one of them is whether or not to spank one's children to discipline them. I admit fully that I have NO idea what it is like to be a mom, to live with children every day, etc etc etc but I can tell you with unwavering certainty that I will NEVER hit my children. Citizen Rob blogged about spanking (he is strongly against it and I applaud his candor and determination) and included a link to a horrifying site called Spanking with Love that I'm not even going to link here because I hope that no one who is a caregiver for a child would find it and think that ANY of it is okay. It is condoning abuse, pure and simple. It gives grown adults the idea that striking a child is okay, and I'm sorry, in my world it is not ever okay.
For example:
Prevention is the best method - that is bring children up from an early age to accept spankings as an integral part of life in a loving home.
This is a device used with great success by my husband to persuade his nephew to accept spankings from his mother: he told him that in order to earn the right to spank his own children when he had grown up he had to accept spankings now. My husband thinks this is such a brilliant idea that he wondered how he could patent it!
"Never slap a child in the face when nature has provided a better place." Only the child's bottom is well-padded enough to endure a spanking without injury.
The first spank is important
As an exception to the "building up" rule, the first spank should not be a weak one. It is too psychologically important. Start with a good first swat to get your child's full attention, then decrease.
Are you freaking kidding me? I am physically sick...please, if you read my blog and you spank your kid/kids, just don't comment. If this kind of fear inducing discipline is what works for you in your house, then that's your business, but you aren't going to change my mind that this is ever an acceptable thing to do.
