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Originally Posted by Glava
There should definitely be a consequence, but not one that makes a child fear his parents. If you behave badly when you are an adult, would an authority figure strike you? No. There would still be a consequence, but a non-violent one (assuming that criminality is not involved). So why should we make kids think that they will get hit if they mess up?
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As a child who was spanked, I can tell you that I never, ever feared my parents--well, except when I did something bad and I KNEW what the consequence was for it. If Mom was going for the wooden spoon, oh boy, I musta done something really, really bad this time. And yes, the punishment changed as I got older--I certainly didn't get spanked after the age of 10. People overestimate what young children understand when it comes to punishment and consequence, and so keeping it black and white with corporal punishment is effective. It may not be the best method, but it's the one that most easily translates consequence to the child.
Another problem is that when parents attempt to punish children using non-violent methods, they use methods that are not effective. Sending a child to his room is a joke--most kids' rooms these days have everything they want in them. Parents also seem to have a harder time taking away privileges.
I think our society has become overly paranoid of spanking.