Which Discipline Method Will You Choose?
To Spank or Not to Spank
Spanking: the traditional method?
Traditional generations have had the attitude that spanking your child is a natural part of life and a crucial role in the discipline of their children. I was spanked as a child and even got beat with Daddy's belt once in a while. Thankfully the times with the belt were few and far between so I wasn't one of the unlucky children who received the belt discipline everyday. But nonetheless, some of my own friends and people that I talk to recall getting whipped with a belt or some other damaging discipline tool on a regular and a daily basis.
Questions Surrounding the Spanking Method
There are only a few more months until my own child is born and this issue has come up several times that has made me ponder whether spanking has any discipline value at all. There are several questions that not only I, but probably thousands of others, have asked or will ask in the future. Why would I want to purposefully hit my child- my own flesh and blood? Certainly there are some issues that may come up that will warrant strong discipline, but is spanking your child truly the right answer? What if spanking your child winds up backfiring and they end up hating you for the rest of your life? Furthermore, what situations warrant spanking your child and which ones warrant hitting them with a belt? What if your spanking gets out of control and you end up threatening your own child's life? Where is the line drawn between spanking and talking to them about what's right and what's wrong?
I can't speak for everyone, but it seems like a lot of people have trouble getting their minds wrapped around the idea that hitting one's child will illicit good behavior? Sure, hitting your child might prevent bad behavior and act as a deterrent for that kind of behavior. But on the other hand, isn't discipline about showing your child that they have done wrong, but letting them know what would have been the right thing to do? If that is what discipline is all about, then how would spanking or hitting your child with a belt let them know how to behave correctly? Once again, it makes sense that spanking your child would prevent and deter more bad behavior, but what about teaching them good behavior?
What about other discipline methods?
What about strongly warning them that the behavior they are displaying is totally wrong? Wouldn't it work to actually teach your children between right and wrong rather than simply hitting them? If anything, it seems like spanking your child would only increase their tendencies toward violence. You are essentially teaching your child that if things do not go your way or how you want them to then it is okay to react with violence.
So even though spanking is in a lot of parents' vocabularies that they use throughout their daily routine with their children, I refuse to be one of those parents. My child will not be out of control, but rather I will discipline my child through teaching them the difference between right and wrong instead of only showing them more violence through my own actions to them. They see enough of that on television and on the nightly news; they certainly don't need me to exacerbate the issue any further. If parents truly care about their children then they will not continue this trend toward spanking children. Investing in your child's future by truly teaching them what is right and wrong makes more sense and will create a future generation of children that the world needs!
Published by Matthew Schieltz
Hello! I am an experienced content writer who has had many accomplishments on and off the writing field. I live with my beautiful wife, Sara, and we currently reside in Ohio in the United States. View profile
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4 Comments
Post a Commentthat harming children ecspecially your own, is not on. To hit children is not 'discipline' thank you very much, when anybody hits a child it is an abusive action and it does not have to be considered as such until they have welts and bruises. And quite frankly just leave Matthew alone, Good on him for making a stand and stop putting him down just because he is doing what is right. Children are also physically smaller than us,another thing you teach them whenever you strike is that hitting people who are smaller is acceptable. Unless you need to defend yourself and defend someone else from being physically attacked, YOU as the rest of us on this rotating planet has no right whatsoever to hit anybody.
No one is living in a fantasy world, parent or no parent, when they are trying to make a stand for what is right. Matthew does not have to be a parent to simply acknowledge that hitting a small child is wrong. 'Spanking' means to hit, 'Mother of Four' and you know it, and 'spanking' should never even come as a last resort, never, because it still means you are hitting your child. Considering you are a parent, and you see nothing wrong with 'spanking' your children and see nothing wrong that you have, you've got to expect people such as Matthew to put you in your place, you haven't the right to decide, ecspecially when you are their mother, when and where you hit them,children look to their parents first for teaching and protection and it is quite clear what you have taught them and no doubt will continue to teach them. You have taught them to hit, that it is acceptable when it isn't, and because of this you should be ashamed of yourself and should never question a soul that tells you
I think that Matthew, not even a parent yet, has real nerve telling us that if we care about our children then how dare we spank them. I have for daughter, ages 3, 8, 9, 19 and they have recieved spankings for bad behavior, but not on a regular basis. I think that parents are living in a fanatsy world if you think that you will NEVER spank your child. There are many means of punishment and spanking should be a last resort. Then you have to ask the question what defines "spanking". Whipped with a belt is not spanking (which I have never done to my own children, and only got the belt once in my life that I can remember from my parents). A light smack on the hand of a young child after being told not to touch something that could harm them is not spanking either. A firm whop or two in the rear end would define a spanking, I would think. When you have 4 kids like myself and have found that sometimes nothing else is effecitve , like "showing right from wrong", then you have right to decide
MY DAD SPANKED ME WITH A BELT EVERYTIME I MISBEHAVED I HAD A SORE BOTTOM ALL THE TIME MY DAD TEACHING ME RIGHT FROM WRONG I GROW-UP JUST FINE