Do you believe in parents spanking children as punishment?

I am a person who's been raised with spanking. My mother spanked me whenever I did wrong. But I never fear her. In fact, I love her a lot. The result of her spanking me is obvious; I am now a university student that value honesty and never once intended to tarnish my own reputation or my name. The spanking which can lead to abuse is the kind of spanking, followed up by harsh treatment and lack of love. when spanking your children for their mistakes, the parents have to make sure they explain the reason behind the spanking. In addition, they also have to show compassion so that the children will not see them as an object of fear and hatred. I see some of the product of very lenient parents who only advise their child with rationale, and even though these children turn up to be better in terms of thinking and so, their behaviour are not that good. They tend to be very childish and are unable to accepts all forms of advice. (some people gives advices by using very harsh words, and they couldn't take it). They become very hardheaded. Well, I guess that's my opinion. Some of you might not agree to this, but I do believe even if you shower your children with advices, at one point they wouldn't listen to you. And yeah, start spanking children for their mistakes in an early age, and don't do it in front of the public. As a summary, spanking can be done with the following rules; 1. Don't do it in public. The children will get embarrased. 2. Don't just spank and then leave. Give reasons. 3. Start from an early age. Don't do it when they can differentiate right from wrong There are more but I cannot seem to recall.

Hi laura, I couldn't agree more with you on this subject and have always spoken out against spanking. I feel certain that spanking for many parents is nothing but a power trip. Little children are put in our care and of course will make mistakes from time to time, but parents are the adults here and should know enough not to resort to violence. This simply amounts to telling their children that violence is okay. From the very first offense, we must take the time to explain to children why it is wrong to do such and such. I don't even agree with saying no to a child without explaining why they shouldn't do certain things. A great many parents still spank their children and than wonder why there are communication problems when they are teenagers. I am confident in saying that it will never be necessary to spank a child if the parents have done their job right. I predict that in fifty years from now, and probably less, any parent known to spank their children will have the children taken from them. Blessings.

From my point of view, Spanking children is just the same with law and order. For example, When you caught speeding, you'll get fine. When you steal you got jailed. Its the same with, children, its just the situation might not that similar. But spanking children, MUST be together with the explanation of why the punishment was carried out. If not, the education of law and punishment fails. It means that, punishing children, without THEM knowing what they did wrong, would fails the message of educating them the right and wrong. So I believe spanking may not be the only way, but to some extent it does, and sometimes relevant and required for education.

hi there! i do not believe in hurting children as a form of discipline. this will just lead to many psychological problems that the children will encounter when he/she grow up. hwen you hurt your child because he/she have done something wrong, he/she will remember the pain rather than the mistake he/she have done. so he/she will never learn and will do the same mistake over and over. to his/her young mind will remain the thought that its okay to make mistake as long as you can tolerate the pain of your parents spanking or physical punishment. so the best way to discipline a child is to peacefully talk to him/her and explain why he/she have done something wrong. teach him/her the right over the wrong doings. this iwll instill to his/her mind and she will understand as he/she grows and mature.

I was brought in a house that spanked and in that time they believed it was the right thing to do. I think that spanking a child teaches them that hitting is okay. Why do you need to spank them when a time out or grounding them from something they like works just as well? Violence never solves anything and in my opinion spanking a child is violent.

I do believe in spanking a child. As a child I took my fair share of swats on the butt, none that weren't deserved. I turned out just fine. Growing up my sister and I knew the punishment for not listening to our parents. Spanking was not the only form of punishment that was handed out, we were also sent to our rooms, had toys taken away, etc. Parents today are to afraid to lay a hand on their children if they act up, afraid someone will report them. Again spanking a child is fine, abusing a child is not.

for me, its still consider as learning process...but, its should be doing for the last choice, not as 1st choice...as a parent, we should talk wisely, if all method have used and the kid still not change, we can use that. coz not every children same their thinking, attitude..so, its depends...

No I don't approve. Although I did it once when our daughter was 5 and I am still ashamed of that today. There are other ways of instilling discipline that are more effective.

I was spanked for misbehaving and backtalking as a child.I think I have turned out very good.I dont resent my parents for it, I actually think it made me a better person. I have never been violent nor has it ever led to fighting or hitting others. I do spank my children,never in anger or abusive.They get a smack on their bottoms if they misbehave.They do learn from this and know I wont tolerate that behavior.I always have a talk with them afterwards and have them explain why I spanked them. I do use other forms of punishment like grounding and taking entertainment away.I also use rewarding for good behavior. My children are pretty well behaved and I do not spank very often.So yes I think they have learned right from wrong. I would never harm my child physically or mentally. I do not think a parent should ever beat or belittle their children. That is abuse!I have seen many parent with out of control kids because the only punishment they use are empty threats. Im going to take away your game,you cant go so-and so,no t.v. ..etc and they dont follow through, so the children continue the bad behavior and know they wont ever get punished or have to pay for their behavior.I have also seen parents in public hitting and cussing their children. I think there are extremes to both sides..extremely abusive and extremely lenient.

You have to look at the situation really. A 3 year old who is putting its little fingers in electrical out-lets or fiddling with the cooker is going to be put off by a quick slip on his hand much more than by telling him no. You can always explain at first but little children will often think it is a fun game-playing thing and go ahead anyway. Recently my husband had to shout quite loudly at our nephew because he turned the hose on and tried to water the electric cable as the drill was running in the garden. He is quite a big boy of 8 but he didn't listen when my husband just explained calmly about not having water near electricity. I think he couldn't understand how it could be dangerous so he didn't believe it. I was spanked a lot as a child, my father used that and shouting but I don't think it made me behave well, I just learned to disrespect him. At school there was quite good discipline until caning was outlawed and then people began to be much ruder because they knew the limits were changed. I never heard of anyone getting caned but the potential was there and that kept things more controlled. Today there is swearing and physical violence from the children and the teachers are restricted in their options to writing a report or sending the child home. However one of my friends at work was in school in the 1940's and he was caned because he was in a line outside the headmasters room. He had queued up because it was his first day in school but the head didn't listen to his protests.

Wow, how strange. I'm watching The Tyra Show and this is exactly what they are discussing! I don't believe in it. I was spanked once when I was a child and my dad cried and I cried. I think it's wrong. Violence is never the answer in any situation! Plus, if it's your child why would you want to hurt them? There are smarter better ways to handle a misbehaving child rather then spanking!

I have two very well behaved children and I never spanked either one of them. I think spanking is just a quick outlet for the parent's anger. I know plenty of people who spank their kids and it hasn't resulted in children who behave well, it's resulted in parents who spank their kids on a regular basis. If it isn't improving the child's behavior, what's the point?

in my opinion spanking is no way to improve a childs behaviour.. one should peacefully talk to him and make him understand his mistake... this way the child will not be afraid of his parents and talk openly. Spanking makes the child violent and distracts him from evrything(sports to studies).

I think the very word SPANKING sounds bad......but does a quick smack sound AS awful?? I don't think it's right to use a smack on the bottom and VIOLENCE in the same sentence, it gives totally the wrong impression. Of course VIOLENCE used on children(or anyone for that matter) is WRONG, there is no disagreement from me on that score, but OCCASIONALLY, a sharp tap is what is required, and before everyone goes ballistic... Yes I DO have children two beautiful well adjusted, sensitive,children.... so an infrequent slap on the bottom caused them no long term or short term damage. Prolonged SPANKING(beating) is criminal and serves no useful purpose at all, that is not my point,I would like to ask THIS how many of you have ever been out, and witnessed a child totally out of control rampaging around a shop, knocking things over including other shoppers spitting like an alley cat and swearing at his mother,and the mother wearing that long suffering expression that tells you in a moment she's going to pull him onto her knee and attempt to REASON him out of his appalling behaviour, whilst being slapped and punched for her trouble. She'll try bribery..WHAT does THAT teach him? Threatening him with his father..again WHAT good is that,poor old Dad being used as the big bad wolf again........ Now answer HONESTLY how many of you would think to yourself, what THAT child needs is a smacked bottom? I put my hands up and admit that I would be someone who would say YES, I don't think I smacked my children above half a dozen times in their lives, but they knew damned well that if it was necessary that whatever they'd done was serious, and it was NEVER repeated. A lioness will cuff her cubs if they overstep the mark, NO we're NOT animals, but we could take a lead from some of them!! Obviously NOT the ones who eat their young though;o) As I said initially, don't misunderstand my point child abuse is disgusting, but a slap on the legs as a reminder to a child that their behaviour is unacceptable, is in my view not the same thing as a good spanking, perhaps if it were seen as a last resort type punishment that parents were "allowed" to use within reasonable boundaries WITHOUT being made to feel like child abusers,perhaps this country wouldn't have to hang its head in shame at the generation of thugs we have produced, mostly because the power has been taken away from the parent, as a result the kids run riot, have no respect for ANYBODY,certainly not the parents, and their favourite line being...."YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME,I'LL HAVE YOU FOR THAT I KNOW MY RIGHTS"............O.K. rant over lol ;o)

I believe an open-handed spank on the butt is an ok form of punishment, however, I do not exercise this myself. My fiance does but I use a more psychological form of discipline. I do yell when I have to but most of the time that is not necessary when you realize how a child thinks and, most importantly of all, DO NOT give in under any circumstances. Sometimes you dont even have to acknowledge the child and they will behave. I guess the bottom line is, I support my fiance spanking our kids but I myself do not and most likely never will.

When I was growing up, my brothers, sister, and I were regularly spanked for misbehaving or talking back. Guess what? We are all grown adults now and none of us developed psychological problems or violent tendencies or abusive behavioral traits. We did learn respect for our elders and learned simple things like saying 'thank you' and 'yes, sir' and 'no, ma'am'. The disrespect and the way I hear kids talk back and even threaten their parents today makes me wonder who really is in control now. Kids tell their parents what they want to do and that's a good thing?

ufcrse not , i agree with laura_lmaxi(215) spanking children as punishment is not at all good its better to get gell well with their children be friendly with their children .they should understand their perspective as well only then things will go smoothly they should not expect from their child to being of their age and do thingss correctly ,punishment is good when it is for learning purpose but somtimes it created lots of problem as they keep their children away from them emotionly ,sucide case coz of emotional breakdown,etc so punishment should be there but at the same time should be light,

I don't approve that kind of punishment. It's not educational at all in the good meaning of the word. It only shows the weakness of the parent. And to spank someone only because you're stronger and you can make it? What about if someone stronger than you comes and spank you?

Laura, I believe that it is possible to spank a child without hurting them physically. No need to clobber them repeatedly, spank them in front of others or raise your voice while spanking. Generally ONE smack on the butt is all that is needed......and NEVER do it as a way to embarass them in front of others.