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If you spend a half-an-hour reading the many websites that argue the case for removing spanking or any corporal punishment from the home, it is amazing to think how prevalent it is in Australia and the US, though experts suggest that the practice is on the decline in the US.
One of the facts that strikes me the most (excuse the pun), is that the first rule of spanking is "Never hit a child in anger".
The argument goes, that If you hit a child in anger, you are not considering the situation carefully, i.e., whether there is any likelihood of the child actually understanding what it is being disciplined for and learning from its mistake.
Now, if everyone followed that rule, there would almost be no spanking.
I challenge all parents to reflect on the times they have spanked their child and try to remember whether they did it in anger. Most evidence suggests that almost 90% of the time, parents do it when they are frustrated, annoyed, at the end of their tether, angry etc. And that it is NOT effective as discipiline because of the bad connection between the wrong behaviour and the spank.
For those, with a clear conscience, that is, those few parents that hit a child when they are calm and collected, are, in my opinion cold-blooded and viscious. Hitting a child calmly and intentionally sounds almost worse than lashing out in anger.
And if you're still not convinced, just IMAGINE....
A 9 foot-tall person who you love more than anything in this world, hits you regularly. Most of the time, the tell you before they do it that you're not allowed to do something, but you can't remember what it is, or it doesn't make sense, or you were just looking for some attention, or were bored--or you can remember at least 5 other occasions when you were allowed to do it and don't understand why this time was different. But you've learnt after a few years of this treatment that you can never know when your mum and dad may want to hurt you. They say they love you, but it still makes you sad. You're nervous now whenever dad comes home, or when mum gets a bit tired and irritated.
Wombat
(May 2006) (
it didn't scare me, i was 17 at the time. i chose the willow switch (why does she een have one of those? 
) and dropped my pants, put my hands flat on the seat of a kitchen chair and recieved three (same number of hours i was late) smacks across the back of the legs. i cried even though it didn't hurt or leave a mark because she didn't do it hard. she followed up by telling me with a smile that she waited til morning so she wouldn't kill me (jokingly of course) and about how worried she was about me and that she'd even called local hospitals looking for me. i cried because i worried her. it got the message across to me however and haven't come home late without calling with a valid reason since.
