Do You Believe It Is Wrong To "Discipline" Your Child In A Physical Way? (page 2)

TD

I think it's wrong to strike a child. Period.

cofty

I've seen children want to run into traffic and continue to want to play in the street until their mom slapped them on the bum.

I think a child can be restrained without striking them. I think the key is to be calm and firm as a parent, don't make petty rules but never bluff. If a child has respect and affection for a parent they can be reasoned with.

Parents of special needs children have my sympathy I have never had to deal with that.

lilbluekitty - your "gentle" friend is doing harm to her children. Children need and want boundaries, the parent is the adult, they need to act like one.

PSacramento

I know that when my Dad would give me a good smack, it got MY attention, LOL !

It was always followed by a stern talking about right behaviour and why what I did was wrong.

My kids?

I recall giving a tap on the butt to get their attention, i've spanked my wife harder ;)

undercover

I don't have kids, so I'm in no position to give parenting advice.

But from my inexperienced point of view, I feel that violence begets violence. If you use physical force/pain to discipline a child, then you are teaching him that might makes right, which is not what you want to teach.

I think some parents are lazy and use force to win quickly.

Even if a parent believes in physical punishment, as in a whipping/spanking, then even then it should never be done in anger. Lashing out in anger is abuse...period. And definitely sends the wrong message.

But OTOH, I've known some real trouble kids that need to be taken to the woodshed. And there may be a time when a smack upside the head is the last resort. It was in my case. Our father never struck us kids. He struck me one time, and one time only. And I remember it as if it happened yersterday. Thing was...I had it coming. I had pushed him to the limit and he decided to set the record straight as to who ran things around our house. He won, I lost. But I learned a lesson and I never pushed him to that limit again.

So while I'm against physical punishment I would not completely rule it out in case of extreme circumstances.

minimus

Wife spanking is clearly ok, especially if the wife is acting like a bad girl.

PSacramento

Being a bad and naughty girl, that needs to be punished ;)

J. Hofer

it's wrong, wrong, wrong. i've had the privilege to grow up a JW with a father who was taught to show his love by striking his children. my children will never experience this form of punishment by me.

it's against the laws of my country anyways, still some people think they are within their rights.

i can't recall how many times i was bleeding from nose, ears and eyes... and it didn't teach me anything but hating my father.

Sapphy

I am completely against corporal punishment for children. I am glad most european countries are toughening up laws against striking children

mrsjones5

My youngest ran into the street all the time when he was younger (from two to four). I never spanked him for it because he doesn't respond to spankings. So I had to be creative and dilligent about keeping my boy (who is very quick and at that time nonverbal) out of the street. I put a latch lock on my front door, a pole at the top of my sliding patio door, if he was downstairs someone had to be too. Telling this kid no and slapping him silly was not going to work.

I sometimes walk my boys to school and I discovered that my son loves to play "red light, green light", so when ever we are close to an intersection I will play the game to keep my boy close because he likes to run ahead. He will respond to my saying "stop!" but the game is more fun.

A couple of days ago I took my son to the grocery store and he was good as gold. He held on to my cart in the parking lot, he didn't run around the store but stayed at my side, and even helped bagged the groceries. I didn't have to hit him to get him to this point.

outsmartthesystem

"I do not believe in physical or verbal abuse"

This is the key. So many times I see parents that think the act of striking a child is disgusting.....yet these parents VERBALLY abuse their own kids. As if calling them names or crushing their self esteem is somehow better than a physical strike.

Personally I have used both physical and verbal punishment. I truly believe it depends on the child. Some children (me) didn't respond to verbal punishment. It took the fear of my dad's swatting hand to get me to act. Other children (my daughter) will cry if I simply look at her with disappointment.

The best advice I can give is to never discipline when angry. A lash out (be it physical or mental) may be something that will hurt a child forever

Do You Believe It Is Wrong To "Discipline" Your Child In A Physical Way?

Share this