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Is spanking wrong?


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In the house I grew up in, me and my siblings were made to go pick a switch from the backyard. We'd get two or three smacks across the behind as a reminder of what would happen if we consistently did bad things. This was used in situations where we did something especially wrong, such as talking back or hitting someone.

We turned out well, I would say. But, the older I get, the more it seems people are against this form of punishment. I try to distinguish between the spankings we got as kids and the actual abuse that a lot of people have to suffer every day. My uncle once beat me unconscience with his fists just for getting a detention at school. My mom and Grandma weren't nearly that extreme and their style of punishment has probably kept me out of a lot of trouble.

So, what exactly do some people find objectionable when it comes to spankings? It's not something I understand.

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Yes, depending on how you define spanking.

A smack on the hand is a useful tool, especially with children too young to understand verbal reasoning and when trying to prevent danger. For instance, a kid trying to touch an oven getting a smack on the hand and thus equating it to "pain" is better than them touching the oven next time, getting a burn and equating it to pain.

Beyond that sort of level, it's wrong.

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It is going to come down to how you define "spanking"

What you describe I would say is definitely wrong. I got worse than that, turned out ok, but that still doesn't make it right.

One "attention getting" smack on the bum or hand might be ok, again depending on the situation. Certainly nothing hard enough to hurt the kid.

That said, I never spanked my daughter, might have 2 or 3 times with my older son, and only once with my youngest. Each time it was ONE open handed smack on the bum.

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Yes, depending on how you define spanking.

A smack on the hand is a useful tool, especially with children too young to understand verbal reasoning and when trying to prevent danger. For instance, a kid trying to touch an oven getting a smack on the hand and thus equating it to "pain" is better than them touching the oven next time, getting a burn and equating it to pain.

Beyond that sort of level, it's wrong.

My Grandma babysits a little girl that I often find myself having to watch over. She's a relatively disobedient little girl, being 5 and all. Usually, making her stand in a corner for 10 minutes is sufficient punishment. She's way too young for a belt or a switch, but sometimes, the only way she ever understands not to do something is if my Grandma smacks her on the butt two or three times. I have had to warn my Grandma though because she always had a hard time distinguishing between little kids just playing and little kids doing wrong, because she is kind of impatient and want peace 24/7.
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It is going to come down to how you define "spanking"

What you describe I would say is definitely wrong. I got worse than that, turned out ok, but that still doesn't make it right.

One "attention getting" smack on the bum or hand might be ok, again depending on the situation. Certainly nothing hard enough to hurt the kid.

That said, I never spanked my daughter, might have 2 or 3 times with my older son, and only once with my youngest. Each time it was ONE open handed smack on the bum.

yes, I've come to find that a smack on the behind once is almost always sufficient when nothing else has worked. The corner usually does work though.
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What type of behavior results in spanking? I don't really see it as a useful tool

hitting people, stealing, yelling at adults etc. I do kind of worry because my Grandma knows the little girl is intelligent but she ignores the fact she's five. She's been trying to get the child to recite the Ten Commandments and she gets pissed whenever she stumbles or forgets, and I have to remind her that the little girl is five years old. Little girl absolutely adores my Grandma though, so it's hard to step in at times.
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