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

by minimus 32 Replies latest jw friends

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  EmptyInside

  This is another reason to feel sorry for Witness children,since the Watchtower has promoted corporal punishment as the way to go. I remember growing up in the 70's,80's,it seemed like every meeting someone was being taken in the back to be beat. That's why if I ever have children,I wouldn't hit them. There are better ways to discipline children.

  A few weeks ago,I saw an elder pinch his little girl,because she dared to let out a little peep at the meeting. And plus,there are so many unstable people in the organization,they are just giving them a green light for abuse.
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  kazar

  I think hitting a child is wrong; however, there are times a child needs a smack on the rear-end just to get their attention.
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  cofty

  there are times a child needs a smack on the rear-end just to get their attention.

  Really? Surely there are other ways to get a child's attention.
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  iamwhoiam

  They didn't have child abuse when I was a kid. I got my ass beat when I did something I was told not to do or acted unruly. After I turned 10, it was go to to my room..when i became a teenager, it was being grounded and no phone priveleges. I like to think it was adaptive discipline. And I was glad I got it. One thing I do know, I was never disciplined out of anger or frustration. So i was lucky in that respect.
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  WTWizard

  This is what I term "spanking". It is meant to get the child's attention, and may hurt a bit. However, injury is not very likely with this degree of physical discipline. Another example would be getting yanked out of the street before a car could hit the child. Properly used, this could be a tool to teach children--particularly to get their attention.

  However, when it gets to be a beating, it is always abusive. This is when it hurts more than enough to get their attention, and can cause injury. Threats of a beating are even worse than the beating itself--it causes hours of dread for when the parent gets home or when they get home from an event. I have heard that threat often, usually while a child has been in field circus for several hours and starts playing with twigs and stones. They also get noisy, and get a spanking and a threat (usually resulting in a beating) for when they get home. This makes the remainder of the event more dreary, because they are dreading the beating in addition to having their play time stolen for field circus.
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  minimus

  Yes, BEATING is always abusive.
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  PSacramento

  I am curious as to WHEN should a child learn the lesson that violence CAN be the "answer" to something they do wrong?

  Not saying that it SHOULD be, but that in the real world it is a very real and painful possibility, soemtime the highest of possibilities.
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  Band on the Run

  I believe a light spank without any anger from the parents may be approrpiate, esp. for young children. The problem with spanking is that it is hard to keep it at only light and without parental anger. It can open the door. I hit by dog when she ran into the street. So many dogs died on my block by running into traffic. Since my youth, things have improved a lot. It is very rare to see beatings in public. Parents seem much more conscious that it is bad and ineffective. Even my dog was much more upset by a "bad dog," than smacking.

  Besides telling parents that spanking and beating is wrong, I believe the expert should explain why it is wrong and alternatives that are more effective to spanking. My sister screeches uncontrollably at my nephew. It is abuse. Why would she want to lose her self to scream. As I've written before, my father was very violent. My mom's mild disapproval was more effective than all his abuse.
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  mummatron

  Yes, I do believe it is wrong. Here it's illegal to slap an adult. In fact it's illegal to threaten to slap another adult, but you can legally do it to a tiny, defenceless child. Crazy. There are far more effective means of managing behaviour (see http://www.wikihow.com/Discipline-a-Child-Effectively-Without-Spanking)

  I posted this link on my Facebook page just the other day - http://www.ivillage.co.uk/why-i-will-never-smack-my-children/138122
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  cofty

  My sister screeches uncontrollably at my nephew. It is abuse.

  Yes it is. Why do some parents fail to behave like adults?

  I am curious as to WHEN should a child learn the lesson that violence CAN be the "answer" to something they do wrong? - PSac

  Not sure what you mean but there is no need to use violence to teach a child any lessons. Its just an excuse for lazy parenting.