Poll: If you were spanked as a child, do you think it made you a better person?

[Nyaliva]

This is to quash a claim on another thread that anecdotes from people who were spanked aren't proof it works and another person questioned when opinion becomes survey data?

I say: when you make a Poll on the Escapist!!!

So, if you were spanked as a child, please answer whether you support it, due to your own experiences or otherwise. If you weren't spanked, please don't say yes or no solely based on your own opinion of spanking. I've made some options for you, partially to keep you from lying and ruining the poll but also to answer a statistical question of my own...

Have fun, discuss and don't be jerks!!

 

[Stasisesque]

Following the thread that sparked this one, I asked my parents if I was spanked as a child. Apparently, I was! I have absolutely no memory of this, and would humbly claim I have turned out to be a pretty decent person. As a child, however, I was a bit (read: a lot) of a brat - so I have no doubt I deserved it.

Therefore, in my case, the spanking probably did its job and has left no imprint on me as an adult whatsoever.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Yes. Pain was the only punishment that got through to me. Without it, I would be my brother, who was not beaten. He is not exactly the best individual.

You all had it easy, I got the belt.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Yes, I was spanked (very rarely), did it make me a better person? Impossible to tell. Did it stop me from doing some stupidly dangerous shit? Hell yes it did.

The only way a person can tell if a something is hot is to touch it. If it is, you get burned and learn never to touch it again. I like to think this analogy works for spanking.

 

[endnuen]

I got what I deserved when I was a kid. It taught me that there were consequences, and that they were not pleasant. I most definitely believe it made me a better person than those spoiled brats of today..

 

[Julianking93]

I was never spanked or anything like that as a child, but... I do support it to an extent.

There has to be a balance with it though. Some parents take it way too far and (obviously) that fucks up the child even worse. Some kids are brats and need some sort of discipline in order to get that what they're doing is wrong.

There's one end of the spectrum, then there's the other. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Just depends on the individual, I suppose.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

Therefore, in my case, the spanking probably did its job and has left no imprint on me as an adult whatsoever.

Or the trauma was so severe you blocked it out = P.

 

[Keith K]

Yes, fear of consequence was instilled at a young age. As I grew older, I came to respect authority and understand the consequence of breaking rules.

It also gave me a appreciation of pain which, as a result, I've tried my whole life to avoid causing to others.

 

[CactiComplex]

Yes. I only ever got what I deserved, and even as a kid it made me think about the consequences of what I'd done, and made me stop to think before doing (or not doing, as the case may be) some extremely stupid and dangerous things.

I'll add that it was only ever for the worst of my behaviour, and used as a reinforcement to being shouted at, so it wasn't as if I grew up thinking my parents did it for no reason.

 

[trollnystan]

My brother was spanked by our mother because he was the boy and he had to be better than the neighbour's boy at everything.

My mother once grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him really hard once when his arm was broken. This is for some reason all I remember of him being.... how bout I use the words physically disciplined instead? But then most of my childhood is a blank.

And even though it's illegal here to hit your child for whatever reason, none of his teachers ever made any comment on him being covered in bruises...

Anyway, I don't think spanking made him a better person. He would have been the same great guy he is now, only without some of his hang-ups. I also think that sure it might work for some kids, but there is ALWAYS a better alternative to spanking.

I'm not even going start on my American friend whose father used to beat her with a belt...

 

[Scarim Coral]

I suppose, I used to be a wild child so I guess it was thank to the spanking I didn't grow up to be a jerk to everyone. However I can't really say if I didn't get spank would I still grow up to be jerk or somehow became a nice guy by other means?

 

[Hristo Tzonkov]

Getting beat up as a child taught me a lot of things in life including what to appreciate in life.The lessons I was told through a reward and penalty system I didn't actually learn properly until I started thinking for myself.

There's still a barrier that must be there...You can't beat your child half to death or beat it without making it understand what it did.

 

[Mrrrgggrlllrrrg]

I wasn't really spanked, more beaten. I think I turned out okay, definitely better than my father so thats a plus.

 

[ChocoFace]

was spanked, as in punished. And i support it, to a degree.
Also it's important to differentiate between spanking and beating.

 

[Nyaliva]

This is to quash a claim on another thread that anecdotes from people who were spanked aren't proof it works and another person questioned when opinion becomes survey data?

I say: when you make a Poll on the Escapist!!!

So, if you were spanked as a child, please answer whether you support it, due to your own experiences or otherwise. If you weren't spanked, please don't say yes or no solely based on your own opinion of spanking. I've made some options for you, partially to keep you from lying and ruining the poll but also to answer a statistical question of my own...

Have fun, discuss and don't be jerks!!

One Internet poll isn?t going to prove that hitting a child works.

Firstly, it's not about hitting a child, it's about a disciplinary aid. You don't JUST smack the child, you use it to reinforce notions of right and wrong which you bring about through other means.

Second, you're right, it's not an all out proof, but it at least gives a window into how people who were spanked feel it affected them, rather than using some test which was probably done over two years, rather than the 20 we've all lived for. And, if I was to do it repeatedly throughout the world, the window would get larger and larger until we saw the bigger picture, whether spanking did do some good or it is an entirely useless method of punishment. At the moment, the former is looking best.

But still, as I've said countless times, spanking isn't an all purpose cure for unruly children but, if done right it can work. And let's face it, do you really think sitting the child down and trying to reason that they can't have that candy bar while they can see all the money you have and are currently throwing a tantrum so loud you can't hear the PA is actually going to work? I know it's a small example but it represents a lot in my opinion.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

Yes, I was spanked (very rarely), did it make me a better person? Impossible to tell. Did it stop me from doing some stupidly dangerous shit? Hell yes it did.

The only way a person can tell if a something is hot is to touch it. If it is, you get burned and learn never to touch it again. I like to think this analogy works for spanking.

This. Also I did some bad things, taking sweets from a sop without paying. Now I even give them back money if they give me too much change.
Also before I played the stupid game "chicken" you know the one where you run out infront of cars. Yeah Never played that since. It cured any problems I had, and I think it was justified.
Honestly I dont see an issue with spanking, there is a difference between that and child abuse, something the government in the UK dosent realise. People have lost jobs for "abuse" because they spanked thier child, then when they dont and cant control the kids the gov says "its the parents responsibility to raise thier kids" how, fuck tyoudo one thing, get in prison, you dont and your a bad parent, the government here should fuck off, I was disciplined as a kid and am a better person for it.

How do you know sticking the crab fork in your ear won't just scratch that itch? I never stopped and decided not to do something because I was afraid of getting hit. Is every other kid going, "I want to jump through my window and hit the ground before the glass does, but I don't want to be spanked."? Now I'm reminded about that guy who got a lobotomy because his step-mother hated him...

 

[ThePinkAcidSmurf]

Voted no, only happened a single time but I doubt it made me a better person.