Why is it OK to hit/spank/swat children?
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"Children are people too!" has been a rallying cry for years now but some people still insist that, as parents, they have the right and the "responsibility" to hit children in order to "teach them properly". Some adults still insist that "God wants them to" physically "correct" their children when they are "bad".
I got into a dialogue with some parents on this issue not too long ago. It was expressed to me that when children are spanked "properly" they do not fear their parents because they know the rules and what to expect when those rules are broken. The point was that parents who behave in a consistent manner are not feared by their children but loved for their ability to set consistent limits on them. I still don't get it...
I'm posting the questions I asked here because they still haven't been answered by the "proper spanking" parent I posed them to. Can anyone explain the logic behind this to me?
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How exactly does spanking work then? If you do not fear being hurt for, say... swearing, how does it "train" you not to swear?
And would you not still swear outside of your parents hearing? Meaning you've only been trained to act in ways that avoid the spanking not "taught not to swear". I've struggled with these questions for years and appreciate having someone to bounce them off of.
How do you teach your children not to hit each other when they are upset over another child's behavior if they are hit for breaking rules? Is it OK for children to spank other children for breaking the rules? Why or why not?
If your partner decided that you should be trained through spanking, would you not fear their coming home? Or you'd just become their robot, doing whatever they deem "right" in order to avoid the inevitable punishment that comes with thinking for yourself? Is that what you really want for our children, blind obedience? To whom should they be blindly obedient after they turn 18?
I'm not trying to tell parents they're wrong, I'm just trying to understand why they believe they are right.
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