JW Children in Meetings (page 2)

wha happened?

I just can't imagine how the meetings do much for the youngest ones in the congregation.

The culture of child beating in the borg is shameful. I remember being smacked often enough, when I was little and wore short trousers I would get a whack on the thigh followed by "don't you dare cry".

Its long past time people started standing up to parents who resort to hitting their children.

I think spanking is ok as long as it isn't taken to an extreme. How else do you discipline a child? - knowsnothing

Hitting a child is abuse. You discipline a child by being consistent. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Never bluff. If a child won't obey there are loads of ways to discipline that don't involve hitting them. Hitting is lazy parenting. In the UK it is a criminal offence to hit a child with any object and even to smack with the hand if it leaves a mark.

PaintedToeNail

I got spanked on occasion at the meetings as a child. Once, while sitting on the floor at the KH, I tied my mother's shoe together. Another time, I rifled through her purse, took out her make-up and smeared it on the sweater of the sister in front of us.

Gayle

This is one of the many reasons, most JW youth leave the organization by or onto their adult life. Most parents who had this imposed on them will not impose it on to their own children. Unfortunately, some will impose the same, but I think not most. Many 2nd generation JWs also will try 'home schooling' for their own children to avoid the embarassment that JW kids suffer in school with all the man-made rules imposed by the organization on JW youth.

Phizzy

I only remember once being taken out for a walloping, by my Mum, I would have been about 5 I suppose, I was not afraid or anything, but to this day I remember that I identified the injustice of it.

O.K I was being a little bugger probably, but I just KNEW I did not deserve the shame and ignominy that was involved.

My Mum was only doing it because it was expected of her by other JW's.

discreetslave

When my husband was a kid the elders made an announcement about not spanking the kids in front of the KH outside since the KH was in plain sight of a major road (US Route 1). They said if the children had to be disciplined at the KH to do it out of plain sight.

Nice_Dream

The children in my Hall would get spanked, and you could hear them screaming from the bathroom. I'm not sure what they even did, I didn't notice they were misbehaving. I felt so much pressure to have my active toddler sit still and be quiet during the meetings, that I just hung out in the Mother's Room to avoid all the stares when he made a peep. I'm thankful I had such an active child, otherwise we might still be at the meetings.

Azazel

I have got to admit i generally good a well deserved spanking for my actions. But most JW kids you just conform and become whats expected of you.Some just become what the mold of conformity makes them while others like myself just built the facade of conformity and lived a double life wherever possible.Sad!

Gayle i agree with the home schooling im was a 3rd generation JW and i agreed with my wife to home school instead of normal schooling to save the kids from all the crap we had to go thru at school.Hindsight. wrong decision and i regret it now because my children are completely brainwashed and i helped to do it unknowingly.

We were never too hardline on our kids at the meeting just had to have things to distract them with and they behaved well.

Sad but funny experience was at the cong i was attending a particually naughty boy was dragged out the back of the hall and round the corner.It was summer and the hall had no air con so a window was open just above the discipline spot and the dad had lost it and was enunciating with each smack " (name)smackyousmackaresmackasmacknaughtysmacklittlesmackboysmack" i become funnier when his wife jumped up and went out an had an argument with her husband we all could hear.

ziddina

Oh, and I forgot to say...

WELCOME to the board, BlueSummer 20!!!

Band on the Run

Yes. I was kicked, dragged, pinched very badly in full public view. My sister was three when we attended a Novia Scotia Convention. I was ten. We were sitting next to a young Bethelite, preening himself in Bethel glory. My mom told me I could never marry a Bethelite b/c of their very low morality. He had a gf and had wandering hands for a JW. My toddler sister slightly brushed the chair in front of her. No one could have felt it. My mom whispered to her not to do it. No toys, games allowed. He took off his belt and handed it to my mom so she could beat her into submission. I had a panic attack. Bethelite vs. several generation JW who probl knows more Bethel secrets than he did. She lightly brushed my sister with it. I wondered if we were going to die at A. b/c my toddler sis brushed her baby feet.

My father was the worst at home. Not one JW said boo to him. I was not human in their view. Bodily integrity did not matter to me. My father never laid a hand on me in true public places or at school.

Jehover's law extended to all situations. It also meant that my father could conform his conduct. He did not suffer a true mental illness.

I could write tomes, filled with tears and anguish. The poor chidren have no advocate with the org. Being a child is viewed as in Jesus' day, a great stigma, worthlessness. It reminds me of the Industrial Revolution where toddlers toiled in mills. Angels, cherubs, cherished beings do not exist in Witnessland.

JW Children in Meetings