Disciplining Your Child: To Spank or Not to Spank

Do You Use Spanking as a Form of Punishment ?

There will always be debates over how to discipline children. Some will swear by spanking,while others have success with time-outs. When we were young we were spanked if we acted out of line. The fear of being spanked kept us well behaved for the most part. Spanking was an effective punishment for my parents to use with us. Experts are now saying that spanking does not work .They insist spanking causes long term issues with the child ,and teaches them violence is the way to handle things. Do you spank your child if they misbehave? Do you think spanking has long term effects on the child?

When I talk about spanking I am referring to a little swat on the rear ,or a slap on the hand.While I have spanked my daughter I don't use this form of punishment to often. It is ineffective for us .We used spanking more when my daughter was young and we were trying to keep her from doing something dangerous,like climbing onto the kitchen counters. When a group of mothers were discussing discipline recently the subject turned to spanking.There was not one of the mothers that stated they used spanking. I asked them if they had ever spanked their child? They all said they had not.They acted like spanking was a form of abuse .One said that parents should not be allowed to use spanking as discipline. After the group had split up I talked with one of the mothers alone and she admitted to using spanking with her children.She also admitted that she was embarrassed to say she had spanked her child in front of any other mothers. I told her I knew how she felt ,in today's society spanking is frowned upon by most. If you were to spank your child in public there would be twenty people calling the cops for child abuse. If you admit to someone that you spank your child you might be on the receiving end of a lecture.