Is spanking a good way to discipline a child?

This is a really good question. I have a two year old and don't plan on spanking. I do believe there is a difference between spanking and abuse. I was spanked as a child. I just can't imagine striking my daughter for any reason. How can you spank a child and also teach them not to hit others? If a child does something wrong and receives a spanking for it and then that child hits another child because the other child did something wrong, would you than spank the first child for showing the other child the same discipline that the first child receives? This is just my thought.

I dont believe in spanking. I was hit as a child and the only thing it did was make me more angry and messed me up in the long run. My daughter is one of my best friends. I could never hurt her. We are here to love and protect our children not hit and harm them. When it comes to disipline I am a strict believer in conversation. I believe that when a child is bad we should talk to them like human beings. When my daughter acts up I sit her down and make her listen. I tell her what she did is wrong, why its wrong and the consequences for her actions. The end result is that they respect you more, it makes you closer, and they really learn right and wrong. I have never hit my child. This method works. Not only now but in the long run because it makes it clearer and easier for them to understand what they did was really wrong. I dont know about you but I want my childrens memories to be good ones, I want them to remember that I am a friend not an enemy and that they can come to me and know that I am there to comfort them and help them with their mistakes in life not only as a child but as adult as well.

Because words only carry so much weight. Boundaries have to be set, if a child goes outside they need to be punished and finger wagging won't direct their path. There is nothing wrong with spanking, if you negate to discipline a child they will hate you more if you don't give them direction.

Spare the Rod and Spoil The Child. It's a very old saying about corporal punishment. Children should be punished as per their mistakes. Yes, it does emotionally hurt them, because people go around spanking them for the smallest mistake. One reason I used to hate my dad. He used to spank me for the smallest of reasons. Like spilling a glass of water, leaving the ceiling fan on when not in use. Who in the world, would spank for such small reasons. But they surely spanked me when I committed some real bad deeds. So, it had to be under a level. In India, there was this news about a school child being admitted into hospital, under a state of comatose, after he was beaten by his teacher. Such kinds of things are inhuman and should not be followed. Although spanking to some level can be allowed. Spanking is to discipline the kid, not to kill him. bourne

I personally do not think it's a good way to discipline a child, not to teach good behavior. In a situation where a child is reaching toward something hot and you don't have time to do more than smack their hand to get it away from the flame or something, perhaps it's useful but as a consequence for common things like not picking up toys, not eating a meal and then sneaking a snack, talking back, running away from mommy in the store - I do not think spanking is the first step nor really any step at all. Granted there are some children who do not listen to ANYTHING, and maybe as a last resort I can see it being used, but I do not think it has the intended effect, which is not only to discourage the behavior but to redirect and help teach the child how to handle conflict and how to make good decisions. Think about it. If I HIT you every time you did something I didn't like, what would it teach you? Probably to avoid me. Probably that I am a mean bad person and I like to hurt people. Probably that as a result you plan to learn how to hit me back and when you get bigger you're going to do it for revenge. LOL!

Webster's defines spanking and beating as two different things. Every adult SHOULD know the difference. Who wants to get spanked....no child of course. So if they do wrong and you warn them verbally and they don't listen, then you verbally let them know if they don't cut it out or whatever they will be spanked. If your verbal warning doesn't work then you make a believer out of them, hence the training....if I don't listen to what mommy or daddy says, I will be spanked. It's called discipline and the degree in which you discipline depends on the "crime". Case in point and say what you will, it worked for me. When my eldest son was 13 (he's now 18) he went on a little shopping spree without any money. I had already warned him about hanging with this certain boy and knew he was trouble. Well I got a call from my daughter while at work saying that I had 45 minutes to get to my son or he was going to juvenile. My worst nightmare as a single mother trying to raise four children without the help of their father; losing one to the system. Let's just say when I got there he was already in tears and the police told me, as if I needed his permission, to do what I had to do. Well what I had to do was discipline him to the point where if he ever had a thought about doing that again....he'd remember the day momma DID WHAT SHE HAD TO DO. Well five years later, I'm happy to report that he has never did that again and now holds a full time job and is making moves with the stock market. As I disciplined him corporally, I also let him know verbally that I'd rather break every bone in his body to keep him out of jail than for him to go to jail and me not be able to hear his screams and cries and not be able to do anything about it. A loving parent knows how to discipline correctly and to what measure. Not sparing the rod and proud of it.

I think,there can be two reasons behind that.These parents are very demanding,due to many reasons, and they don't understand the mentality of their own child.Secondly,probably they get suppressed by their parents too,so they treat their child in that same way.So they don't try to understand their own kids.

We need to spank the child if they did wrong things in order to correct them. But spanking must be done the proper way. First you must let the child know the reasons for spanking and you must let him feel that you love him that's why you want to correct him.

There is a difference in spanking a child and abusing the child. I spank my daughter when she does really bad things. Its about two swats on the behind and no where else. If she does little things I put her into a corner. There is nothing wrong with spanking when it is in moderation.

If a child is not going to listen to you then you have to take it one step further in order for them to understand that you are serious. There is a difference between spanking and beating and there is absolutly nothing wrong with spanking and punishing. Now if this is a continuous thing then maybe there is a problem.