Do you spank your kids?

I was spanked alot as a child.(I must have been naughty)With a belt. I think my spankings bordered abuse, but my dad was old school and what he did to me paled in comparison of how he was punished as a child. I think it is a tough thing to choose. I dont want to teach my children that its ok to hit. I also dont want to be a push over. I find that the only time I am tempted to spank is when I am overly tired, crabby, dont feel well. Those are my issues and something that doesnt need to be taken out on my children. Its hard to see the big picture though when you work 9 hours...come home to crabby whiny children and have no time to unwind...have to be in parent mode instantly. Its hard. I hope to be able to handle my children without spanking only because I had such a bad experiance with it as a child.

I think spanking is a form of abuse. I would never spank my children.

I dont spank my step kids but i feel their mother should sometimes. Last week our son got sent home because he called amother student a cu*t. Unbelieveable what kids say now a days.

I spanked. If they needed it, they got it. And I think they learned a lot from it. I also took things (nintendo, tv time, playing with friends) away from them. It depended on what they were being punished for. I tried to make the punishment fit the crime so to speak.

Yes i do spank. When everything else failed. There is no choice but to do it. My parents did it on me. So did their parents on them. Its our culture. It worked often. So, why not.

I'm only 16 so I don't have any kids, but I was spanked once, because I was misbehaving at church and I got the point. In the long term, I think it can effect children. I think it's appropriate as long as the adult isn't spanking really hard.

I do not have kids but I thought I would speak my mind anyways =) I will not spank my kids and I think that it is wrong to do so. My opinions might be becasuse here were I live, even spaning is illegal and considerd abuse by the law. i guess this has colored my opinions. I never got spanked as a kid and i turned out fine. Even if u do spank them - u still hurt them, and hurting children is wrong. there are other ways to punich them., like ground them, take away some of their things or stuff like that!

I always tried to make the punishment fit the crime so to speak. But I never liked to spank. I always shouted, sent them to their room, grounded them or took away things, toys, pocket money, privileges whatever it took to make them see that they had done wrong..

i do spank my children but not as a form of correction. I firmly and strongly believe that is the parents right and choice to be able to spank their children. For example if your child keeps repeating an act that could be fatal such as trying to put a fork in a plug in socket. If my child repeats this after saying no to here of course i have to spank her to guarentee that she knows that this is wrong. Spanking for the benefit of your child can not be wrong!

I, personally, am a firm believer in what we around here affectionately call "an @ss whuppin". It is a time honored tradition in my family. I don't have kids at the moment, but you better believe that if and when the time comes to administer an @ss whoopin' I will be ready willing and able. Even as an adult, it just seems like the right thing to do. I believe in violence and pain as teacher. For instance: You tell a child that the stove is hot. The child may well believe you, but the child won't know the stove is truly hot until the lil tyke gets bold enough (or clumsy enough) to touch it...and the child will, they always do. Lesson learned. Pain as teacher. I got my @ss whooped for many a transgression in my day. If I even told you all about it, you would swear it was abuse. But it isn't, it's just the way of things. It is true that time outs and the taking away of privileges can work in disciplining your child. Or even making your child do menial, worthless tasks (always a personal favorite of mine) and I will be utilizing all of the above. BUT! I will also be adding an @ss whuppin or two to the punishment, depending on the severity of the crime. So, a spanking and THEN a time out (or whatever you choose) thats my way. And trust that I practice what I preach. I have no children of my own, but I am the oldest of thirteen kids...so I played parent too. We coddle our children way too much in this day and age. Spankings Build Character! (I think I'll make that a t-shirt logo). Ra

My son is only turning 1 this week so I haven't really had to spank him yet. I do swat his fingers, though, when he does something dangerous, either for himself or for someone else. That's the same reason we plan on spanking him when he gets older too. Like right now, if he pokes the dogs in the eyes, he gets his hands spanked. We also explain to him that he isn't allowed to do it because it hurts the dogs and the dogs might bite if he hurts them. Our dogs won't bite him, but you never know when a dog that we are visiting might. So we teach him on our dogs that it is not okay. Another reason he gets spanked is for touching stuff he is not supposed to. We keep things at our house that could hurt him out of his reach, but if we are at someone else's house, there is a variety of tempting things that could hurt him. We tell him no when he goes to touch them and we move him away. Then if he doesn't listen, that's when his hands get spanked. I don't believe it is abuse at all. I think that the small amount of pain he experiences is much less than the pain he would experience if he were to keep on, and say the dog were to bite him, or the VCR would fall on his head. I don't really think spanking is something we will use as a punishment, though. We will only use it when what he is doing can hurt someone. But I think spanking should be a personal choice. As long as parents aren't abusing their children, there is nothing wrong with it.

I don't spank my kids and I don't use timeouts or taking things away. We're unschoolers and practice attachment parenting and try to treat our kids with the same respect with which we treat our friends and adult family. That's not to say that we're not in charge. We're responsible legally and financially for our kids, so we have to have the final say in what happens in our family. Because we're together more than most families, we have more time to work on having a good relationship with each other and a strong bond. There are still problems. We all still get irritated with one another and lose our tempers sometimes, and once in a while someone yells at someone else. But we work it out without punishment. Consequences, yes. But punishment, no. I don't see how we can expect our kids to feel safe with us, if they know that we can hurt them when we get angry.

I do spank, and I don't think it causes any damage whatsoever in the long term if done properly. If you are angry, frustrated and yelling, I don't think you should be spanking right then. Teach yourself to be calm when you administer spankings Look at the child with love, explain what was done wrong, even if they don't understand yet, and give them a spankin. I was spanked as a kid, and I'm sooo thankful that my parents spanked me. Even as a child I remember people CONSTANTLY complimenting my parents for what a good child I was. Their discipline has helped me to make great choices as an adult. That's the whole point of child training, is to prepare them for the real world. I think it is wise to try and find other forms of training other than spanking if possible, however, I'm not a big fan of timeouts. But, removing privileges and such is great when applicable.

i spank my kids when they do horrifyingly bad things that deserve a spanking. but i always explain why i am angry and explain why they should not be doing what it is they did. Usually it works. other times well...they just choose to be naughty even when they know whats coming

I done it once and never reapeted again. because the more I hurt my child physically the more it breaks my heart.