Originally posted by justlola
I'm afraid we are going to have to agree to disagree. We aren't talking about consentual spanking between partners here, we are talking about physically hurting a child who is supposed to look to you for love and support and safety. If you lose control and hit them, once or twice, you teach them that you are human and made a mistake and that your emotions got away from you. If you hit them when calm cool and collected, you teach them that you are going to hurt them when you like. I can't believe that that is what you really mean to instill in your children.

Ummm... Actually, I think the reverse is true.

We can agree to disagree if you want, that's all good with me, but speaking from experience and education, striking someone out of anger only makes them not want to be around you and makes them walk on eggshells while they are around you.

If you just give them a little pop on the butt when they're acting up, and not when you're mad, then you kind of get the point across, without having to go into long speeches about time-outs and groundings and all that, that they should stop what they're doing right away.

Discipline, whether of a child or an adult, should not be about venting your own anger, it should be about modifying behaviour. If you just beat someone because you're mad at them and want to hurt them, then you're abusing them. As children go, if you give them one little pop when they're acting up, you're getting the point across that you mean business right then and there.