Poll: Is it ok for parents to spank their kids?

[AngloDoom]

You shouldn't have to, but sometimes you'll be brought to it.

I was a terrible child who realised I wouldn't be hit, to I went around beating everything that moved because I felt indestructible. Then my dad finally slapped me one on the arse and then I suddenly realised I wasn't the one in control.

Like a lot of things, physical punishment done to the bare minimum of necessity is the best course of action. There are few parents who will go through their life not having to slap their kid once.

 

[JezMM]

Never. It's disgusting, animalistic and anyone who has to resort to such a cheap tactic is a bad parent (I say this after being on the recieving end of physical punishment as a kid not from my mum, not from my dad, but from my STEP-DAD, ugh).


Would you hit a co-worker when they did something wrong? Would you hit your boss? Would you hit your spouse?

It doesn't matter whether you "own" them or not, at the end of the day you are hitting a child.

 

[Watchmacallit]

Spanking doesn't require the pain, just the fear is enough. A light touch on a small child will send them into tears an thats all thats needed. No physical beatings unless its a psychotic shit. Then you need to put real fear into them.

EDIT: I'm seeing a lot of hate for the spanking thing. Okay, what has dropped considerably over the last 20 years? Spanking, really, its unacceptable these days. You wanna know what I see everywhere? Violence, people not being afraid of anything.

I'm 19, I was spanked if I did something wrong. To teach me that if I did something wrong I will be punished.

Tell me, how do you punish a child that has committed a wrong? Put them in a room for an hour? That won't do anything. Children need to fear. God knows I feared my mum and I'm one of the rare decent people on this planet. She barely hit me but if she did I was shit scared.

I don't hold it against her. If I didn't fear my punishments I would of ended up like most of the people I've met, and I'd rather be me.

 

[Hagi]

Spanking? No.
Small non-bruising physical pains (light ear-flick, small pinch etc.) to grab the kid's attention when he's a bit hyper? Sure.

 

[SageRuffin]

Children gotta learn they fucked up some kind of way, right?

I did wrong, I got a backhand, and that's if my mom/grandma was in a good mood. I made sure to clean up so that wouldn't happen again, I tell ya.

Observation: I just looked at some of the other posts and I think some of y'all are confusing the issue (then again the OP didn't really make it clear what s/he was aiming for with their post); hell, I might be confusing the issue myself. Are we talking about spanking as a means of punishment, or spanking for the sake of spanking?

If the former, then yes, I would do it, because that's what happened to me, and it's one of the few things that I think made me who I am in life. Like I said, how else was I to know that I monumentally fucked up? Stern talks don't do but so much - after a while kids learn how to effectively tune you out so it's like talking to an empty trash can.

If the latter... well, I'm sure most kids don't need to know about that yet, if you get what I'm saying.

 

[Aura Guardian]

Children gotta learn they fucked up some kind of way, right?

I did wrong, I got a backhand, and that's if my mom/grandma was in a good mood. I made sure to clean up so that wouldn't happen again, I tell ya.

Yes. THANK YOU!! I was hit when I did something bad. Yelling doesn't do jack to kids. They continue to do it and end up in talk shows saying "I don't know what to do" and such.

This should help.

 

[Alon Shechter]

Well...
One side of me sees a little asshole brat these days and says "Spank him! Spank him and laugh!"
And another side says "Violence is wrong and bad and horrible and you should not do it to anyone!"
There are few exceptions to the little brats we have today, I tend to think myself as one, but it's the sad truth that the majority does indeed deserve a good spanking.
Or maybe something lighter like pulling someone's ear when he's acting in a harmful way.

 

[Zantos]

No, just give them another sibling and they'll inflict pain on each other. Parents won't even need to get involved.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

Yes. Why? It works. It worked on me and I harbor no resentment to my parents at all. I actually appreciate it in the face of kids today and some of the bullshit they get away with.

 

[StarsintheBlood]

i have had to endure verbal and physical hurt and if i ever told them to stop my parents got angry at me for wanting to put a stop to it. my mom+stepfather are so strict it's scary. so yes, i appose all forms of pain and suffering coming from parents, because parents are supposed to be nice to their kids and, well, parent them, and maybe it's just because my mom had a rough childhood or maybe my stepfather is just a horrible parent, but that gives them no right to hurt anyone. this is bringing tears to my eyes. childhood is a terrible thing to waste.

Jesus christ, I'm sorry. This is why I say no- I'm not saying this holds true for all parents and all people, but in general? The line between discipline and abuse is too controversial and too easy to cross that it's just generally a bad idea to get tangled in it. Parenting can be done without resorting to violence. It may work for some people, but it's still unnecessary. There are other ways.

 

[Mr Thin]

I really, really want to be all open-minded and modern and say "No, of course not", but I just can't believe it.

I know that physically disciplining your children works; I know it worked on me. I strongly feel the reason my younger brother is such an asshole is because he knows he can do whatever he want and there will be no negative consequence.

I want to believe, but as far as I can tell, kids need a good smack every now and then to straighten them out, or they will grow up assholes.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

No,I also think it's illegal.When I was a kid and i did something bad,even the smallest thing my dad would will hit me and belive me it didn't do me any good,they only thing it made is quite,anti-socalist and to hate my dad.

FYI I had the potenial to be an expert Tennis & basketball player and an educted student but eventually I hated my dad so much,that I didn't want to do anything that will make him happy or pleased so drasticlly.

Could you be a little more clear on that, if hit you because of something like accidentally breaking a cup then that's not discipline that's abuse if was for stealing or hurting someone or something I would call that discipline. But for wetting the bed or like I said breaking a cup then that's just abuse.

 

[kebab4you]

You need to discipline your kid somehow, at young age a serious talk won't have any effect so yeah, I see no issue with spanking[footnote]Spanking is not beating fyi before anyone makes that argument[/footnote]

 

[crudus]

Here's the think: You want to use it as <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning#Reinforcement.2C_punishment.2C_and_extinction>positive punishment but not for everything. You also don't want to go overboard with it (so don't spank a kid 20 times as hard as you can for not locking the door). You also want to reinforce the behaviors you want to stay; otherwise kids will do destroy the priceless vase just for attention. I was spanked up until I was about 7 and I turned out alright.

No,I also think it's illegal.When I was a kid and i did something a bit mean my dad would will just scare the shit out of me,but very rarely do something phyiscal.And also it'll just cause your kids to hate you and do even more mean stuff.

My dad spanked me and I don't hate him. I hate my mother, but that is a different story all together.