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

[Batfred]

Bring back corporal punishment! Without it, you get the ASBO, hoodie, threatening kid, Jamie Bulger murdering society that we have today. I was spanked, my brothers and sister were spanked, my parents and their parents were all spanked, we all turned out ok.

A little bit of National Service wouldn't go amiss either!

 

[RatRace123]

I got spanked very rarely, and when I did I sure as hell deserved it. I think the reason I got it so rarely was because the first few times were enough to instill me with fear (or respect, whatever) and that prevented me from acting out.

Of course, that's not to say that mental and emotional punishments don't work either. Like as a kid, if I think I was independent enough to go off on my own, my parents just let me.
When I realized that they weren't trying to stop me, I got hugely upset and retreated back to them.

Simple.

 

[Viking Incognito]

When I did something spank worthy at school my parents would tell me when I got home, then make me do my homework while the suspense built up. By the time it actually happened I was practically wetting myself. I support spanking because when I got spanked for something you could bet I would be doing it again.

 

[darth.pixie]

Depends on the child. I've seen a lot of kids these days that shout and cry and pull a tantrum over the stupidest thing and their parents do nothing. Then I see a quiet kid being shouted at for nothing.

Spankings or beating would have done nothing for me. But my mother had much more...creative ways to keep us in check.

Honestly, I support it but not often or for any reason.

 

[suitepee7]

although i was, this was only once or twice when i had been really bad. i do not condone this behaviour, and were i ever to have kids myself, i would not spank them.

 

[Viking Incognito]

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...

What you are talking about right here is just straight up child abuse. Spanking is slapping your child's butt, whipping your child with a belt or re-breaking their arm is considered abuse. That is how it is here in America at least.

 

[Something Amyss]

All spanking did was make me fear spankings. It didn't do anything to modify my behasviour, save maybe hiding my wrongs better.

The problem with this sort of argument is that anecdotes don't equal proof. It's hard to correlate spanking and results.

Would anyone pose this question if it were about video games and violence?

 

[Bobbovski]

I wasn't spanked (it's illegal in my country)and I don't agree with it. Sure, it might work sometimes but I'm more or less convinced that there are better and less risky methods to foster children.

Edit: I was a little troublemaker when I was little. Had a terrible temper, I talked back to grown ups and sometimes didn't obey. But my mom talked to me and did her best (and later the school counsoler would give me some tips how I control my anger). So I'm a good example that a disobediant child can turn out ok even without resorting to physical violence.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

I was spanked as a kid and I ended up being a bitter and angry person. I hate my family I've had no contact with mum's side of it. I do love my dad, however, and he's got me through a lot of shit. In fact, if he didn't put all that effort into me I'd be dead by now. Granted there were some abandonment issues but those pale in comparison to how many times I was "disciplined".

Even so, you have no right to beat your child. Your child is not an animal, it's a human being. It's frowned upon to beat your animals and you can even end up in jail for doing so and yet it's acceptable to beat your child.

My views on spanking are pretty clear but I've got one more thing to add. If you think you've got the right to spank your child then I think I have the right to cut my child. The argument for spanking goes that if done right it's a good disciplining method. Well my argument is that if you do cutting right, it's also a good disciplining method. In fact, anything done right is a good disciplining method including burning, drowning attempts and abandonment.

 

[WolfThomas]

I was spanked. I am a good person. I have no idea whether it's causation or correalation.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

I was spanked as a child, but when I grew into my teens my Mother escalated it into beatings. She beat me awake with the belt buckle end of the thickets belt I've ever seen. I left the house at sixteen. Awhile ago,... while I had no contact with my mother, I found out through my siblings she was diagnosed Bi-Polar with emotional issues. I didn't immediately go, "Oh the answer to everything!" But our relationship has gotten better over the years, and she's changed.

But to be honest, I don't usually remember any of the spankings and beatings, until someone brings them up in conversation or a story about another kid.

I just didn't let them turn me into a hateful, bitter, grudge-holding person. You can be who you want to be, despite what happened to you in your past. Blaming your parents for how you are now, is a crutch and a well-used excuse.

 

[k-ossuburb]

I put "no" because I honestly can't tell if it did or not; based on that, I think I support it because it really didn't affect how I grew up; there's a whole lot more to life than one moment and I don't think spanking alone made me who I was, it was all the other shit I had to deal with alongside internal reflection throughout my life that shaped my personality, opinions and tastes.

To clarify:

When I say I support it, I mean I support what I had as a kid, which was that I only got a back-hand or two across the back of the back of the legs whenever I did something stupid or dangerous, like when I spilled oil on the carpet.

I don't support an all-out beating, that's just cruel and that definitely will mess a person up in the long term; they might not become serial killers, but they might have trust issues, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, hatred for authority or something else along those lines. They might become violent themselves if that's all they knew, but it's probably more likely that they'll be nervous and introverted, but then again it's all down to the individual.

 

[Taldeer]

I was a very quiet kid and my actions didn't warrant spanking, but I support it. This is going to be tricky to explain, so please bear with me and by all means, I'd be very glad if someone chose to discuss this with me further.

I support a bit of well-timed and entirely justified spanking because I personally feel that there are pitfalls to the "let's reason with him" method that are very hard to foresee. For example: my mother and my grandmother applied this method extensively with me - but as I said before, I was an ok kid, so I guess that makes sense. Throughout the years I learned many many techniques and triggers to manipulate and talk people into getting what I want, when I want it, be it parents, friends, teachers, you name it. You know Jeff Winger from Community? I'm like that, just not good looking, not a lawyer and not the owner of a Lexus.

I feel like the necessary discipline and respect for authority that would've probably made me a more focused, more responsible person would probably have sunk in way better if there had been less compromise and negotiation and more spanking. I'm not saying I'm a jerk and a loose cannon now, because I'm not. But I do have a very low threshold for long-term assignment, I lose interest and patience with projects that take a lot of time because I'm used to quick, easy and efficient results with minimal effort, which in turn gives me very little and short-lasting satisfaction, which makes me a miserable and depressed guy that can no longer see any value in anything he does.

Am I grossly over-analyzing this, searching for things to explain my situation in the wrong places, or is there any sort of truth in my little expose here? I'm genuinely curious of you guys' opinions.

 

[Bohemian Waltz]

Was spanked and No, but it did perversely infantilize the act when it comes up during very certain particular situations.

 

[Ldude893]

My mother used alternative methods instead of spanking. Locking me in the bathroom or blackmailing me to get good grades or behave good was enough to keep me in line. It worked.

 

[meowchef]

I was spanked as a kid and I ended up being a bitter and angry person. I hate my family I've had no contact with mum's side of it. I do love my dad, however, and he's got me through a lot of shit. In fact, if he didn't put all that effort into me I'd be dead by now. Granted there were some abandonment issues but those pale in comparison to how many times I was "disciplined".

Even so, you have no right to beat your child. Your child is not an animal, it's a human being. It's frowned upon to beat your animals and you can even end up in jail for doing so and yet it's acceptable to beat your child.

My views on spanking are pretty clear but I've got one more thing to add. If you think you've got the right to spank your child then I think I have the right to cut my child. The argument for spanking goes that if done right it's a good disciplining method. Well my argument is that if you do cutting right, it's also a good disciplining method. In fact, anything done right is a good disciplining method including burning, drowning attempts and abandonment.

Generally, spanking and beating aren't looked at as being the same thing.

 

[VanillaBean]

With spanking you either learn to act better or do a better job about not being caught. I have successfully mastered the art of both of these so I would say spanking helps.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

When I was a kid I was a little bastard. I was spanked a couple of times and I'm pretty sure I'm alright now. It kinda grates on my though, when I see my younger siblings being worse than I remember being myself and they are ignored or, talked at. HIT THEM!

 

[p3t3r]

my parents would just take away what ever we were fighting over. there was 4 kids in my family a lot of the trouble was between us. none of us were ever spanked i don't think. i was also well behaved so i wouldn't have been anyways.