Older kids from this generation are way different then the younger ons are turning out to be.

Back then parents spanked alot more, now it's like people are thinking it's abusive. When i was young i was spanked alot, and i dont misbehave at all in public or anything, still sometimes at home but hey lol.

Watching freshman come into highschool and still even some of the sophmores they are spoiled brats, who think there better then everyone and deserve to be spanked. My sister for example was barely spanked she is a couple years younger, so as i grew up and stopped getting spanked she rarely did. She throughs HUGE fits when she is upset, like its so bad that if we go out to eat and i take a frech fry to pick on her she throws them across the room.

Spanking is the only way to teach them a lesson. Saying no don't do that, wont do anything. Now i understand when i was younger why my mom said it hurt her more then me getting hurt, im sure it must be hard to do =(

But i turned out okay and i love my parent, though we get in fights im sure its just my wanting to graduate and move out thing making me antsy lol.

Sorry that was really long. :S

Aww, come on, you didnt need to point that out, now did you?

me too xD it can be fun at first but sometimes it goes too far :/

I probibly have gotten spanked 3 times. Evereybody says I am very responsible.

To the topic's inititial question... why? Why would you spank your own children? It may seem harmless, but things can dig down deeper than you think.

It's a form of physical abuse that shouldn't be around any household which wants to raise a decent family in the new millennium. No matter how past generations have thought about it, the children who have gone through it are still abused. It's as bad as any abuse done to a child, physically, and even more so, emotionally. It's unacceptable, parents should try and have a pleasant relation, even if it's not a warm one (i.e. if the family has gone through a divorce recently) with their children.

And so the kid will think he's above being hit and become a reckless child who goes out and fights for a living. Parents can moderate it you know, punish when they deserve it, the kids wont learn otherwise.

So a parent can't teach a child without using violence in some manner? Why would a child not learn a lesson without the parent/guardian using force? I want to see your side of the issue.

Daedra when a child is young (as amphy said) they don't understand warnings that don't make sense to them, they don't think of the future, but instead on the now. Spanking your kids, yes, should be used only as a last resort, and never the first time(unless the deed is severe). Grounding doesn't work that well on little kids...there's nothing to ground then for! but as they mature they will realize the importance of their actions, and won't need to be spanked anymore...and besides...to a kid, they would rather have timeout for an hour than pain to the behind for a few minutes...a teen is the opposite...that is why you need to discipline them accordingly, else they don't learn. they need to know what they are doing is wrong. a child may think " if i eat the cookie, it will taste good, but mommy said no..." with no discipline that teaches them to steal...not good...but..." if i eat the cookie mommy will spank me..." that teaches them to be law abiding. You reap what you sow. if you sow bad you get bad, if you sow good seed you get good fruit!

Ok, now this may sound horrible, but... Children, like lab rats, can be trained to avoid actions that cause them pain. If a child associates, say, stealing from mommy's purse with a spanked rump, they are less likely to try it again.
My mom always used to say that there wasn't a problem with me and my siblings that she couldn't solve with a smack on the butt. I got spanked... alot... when i was growing up. Quite honestly, i don't think there were many days where i DIDN'T get spanked at least once. I'm not a sociopath because of it, though. I have a temper, just like everyone else, i think. I tend to keep my temper pretty well under control, though, because when i got mad as a kid, i'd get spanked. so now, i tend to think twice before i do something, like "Will this get me in trouble? How will i be punished for this if i do it?"
One of my co-workers told me that he only spanks his kids when the natural reaction to what they're doing is pain. For example: Kid tries to stick finger in light socket and is caught by Mommy. Mommy smacks hand and says no. He told me that he uses timeout much more frequently than spanking, because "I've never felt bad for sending a kid to timeout in anger."
Alright. Now that i'm done talking, did it make sense? <_< ... Doubtful

My parents never spanked me so hard that it really hurt, at least, if they did I don't remember it so it must not have been very scarring =P . I do remember when i was about 7 mom threatened to spank me and I was so horrified and embarrassed that I quit it. I know that's not how it works for all kids cuz it didn't work for my brother (The I'd be embarrassed if i got spanked not spanking in general) But I can't imagine how my brother could be if he had never been spanked. The only flaw i saw with it was that mom spanked my brother, I think dad should have been in charge of that for Tom because then he would have learned that Dad is in charge, that and I don't think mom could hit his little backside hard enough for it to reach his brain through his thick skull. If or when I have kids I'm gonna try to keep daddy in charge of disciplining little boys.
I can guarantee that if they had sat Tom down and talked to him about why you shouldn't beat your sister on the head with plastic handcuffs he would still be doing it. Kids aren't little adults, they're little sinners, if you act like they're adults you won't get anywhere near helping them become adults.

All this being said, I've got LOTS of friends whose parents never spanked them, and they have turned out perfectly fine; infact, I can think of several who are more disciplined and law-abiding than I have turned out, and I was spanked. So like most of the topics in the Debate Zone, there's no right and wrong answer to this issue. I think each family requires a completely unique method of punishment and rewards in order to effectively raise their kids. Some of you were spanked, some weren't, and yet we all turned out okay. So clearly there is no correct answer but whatever seems to work. Yay.

Agreed with the above post.

I my entire life, I have been spanked once. Didn't hurt. I still think it was wrong of my mom to do that.

my dad was brought up with children should be seen and not heard, spanking was a normal thing with him so he spanked myself and my sister but my mother was loving and caring. after my mother passed away there was no one to stop my dad and the spankings turned more violent, at one point my dad grabbed my hair after i pushed him away because he looked like he was going to strangle me. My dad didn't have a stop point, I hate my dad and so does my sister.
I'm mostly cheerful, nice, happy, funny, random and all the other nice things but cross me and you might as well be dead, my ex dumped me over the phone so I my mind immediatly went into the extreme and I smashed his car up, who taught me that? my dad.

it starts of with spanking and then grows into something more extreme, it was neither fair or right what my dad did and there was only one time I spanked my daugter and that was when she almost got run over, fear had gripped me and it was a reaction. It was no excuse for spanking my daughter but as soon as she saw the fear in my eyes she said sorry, I explained that she was going to get hurt and she never did it again.

is it right to control a child through the fear of pain? no, it's not fair on an adult never mind a child. Enough said

Understand MissCheeseInACan, that the spanking of a child is not intended to control them, but to teach them at a time in their lives when words and reason are unintelligable to them. Do you consider teaching your child the difference between right and wrong abuse? I sure don't. What your father did was wrong, and in my opinion spanking should be retired after the 3rd or 4th year of the childs life. Of course in some instances more draconian measures are needed but it's a case by case thing.


A sharp slap on the hand is a world away from hair pulling and kicking a child down a flight of stairs.
I think some people need to understand the difference.

I would spank my child if it was necessary, however I view spankings as a correction. In other words I would not inflict pain, rather startle said child. Same as a dog with its pup. Often giving a short yelp, snarl, or nip. As far as the government getting involved, unless your are abusing your child then it shouldn't be an issue. Now not to sound heartless but those under the age of 18 are property of the parents/guardians. So, again short of abuse, it is unlikely that said guardians will or should face legal charges. Whether you decide to "spank" your child or not I highly doubt that it will be the deciding factor on the "bad egg" debate. As it has been said before these light corrections are hardly the source of violence in todays' youth. I think everyone is in agreement that it is wrong to violently assault a child, and to argue so seems like a moot point to me.