AngC
Well-Known Member
But is it really "Child Abuse?" (I haven't seen photos of this instance other than a quick flash on the news.)I agree sometimes a spanking can do wonders. I was smacked a couple of times as a child. It certainly taught me to respect my parents.
Switching a 4yo to the point of numerous cuts and bruises is not going overboard - That's classified as "Child Abuse"
I watch our little mare discipline her baby to the point I wince and want to interfere. I don't. And I realize people aren't animals, but maybe time-outs for children don't work too well?
I'm older, and the world has changed; however, I'm thankful for the discipline I received or I would have turned out even worse than I did. We had a multi-tiered set of discipline. It started with Mom smacking our butts with her hand and progressed to whacking with a wooden kitchen spoon (had several of those broken across my butt.) Then, it progressed to 'wait until Dad gets home.' That was even worse, because you had to wait and anticipate the punishment. Once Dad arrived home, lesser offenses earned you a Dad butt-beating with his hand (which was much harder than Mom's hand or her wooden spoon.) The next level was Dad butt-smacks with a 2x4; that didn't hurt too terribly much since the board was flat. The absolute worst was Dad's belt. I only earned that punishment once. My brother was stealing candy at the little store; so I thought that was just hunky-dory and stole some candy too. I got caught on my first theft attempt. I earned the Dad belt on the naked butt; ten lashes; it hurt so I put my hands back there; I had welts on my buttocks and on my wrists. (Plus my parents made me quit the Girl Scouts on the premise that a thief was not honorable enough to be in such an organization.) I'm not advocating this, but I can tell you that I sure as heck never stole anything after that.