mantra wrote:I would think a few of us here grew up with corporal punishment. I don't believe in it - violence begets violence.
I got the odd smack when I was a kid. Not very often as I was a "perfect" child.
My Mother was the disciplinarian, my Father never touched us kids.
I can only recall smacking my daughter on the hand (very lightly) and saying NO, when she was crawling, to stop her touching things. She learnt which cupboards in the kitchen she could open (the saucepan one) and which ones she would get a smack on the hand for. Ditto with the drawers ... she would not touch the drawer with the sharp stuff in it. I never smacked her, never had to, often it was just "that look" and she would stop whatever. I figured that I had trained the Dog without violence, so I surely could get a baby to do what I wanted.
A smack on the bottom of a small child does no harm ... don't do it in public, or your will be reported (there are CCTV cameras everywhere) and end up in Court! It has happened here ... harassed Mother with a naughty 2 year old ...
Did anyone else grow up on those American movies that their parents loved? It seemed normal to see women thrown over a man's knee and spanked or a child belted, yet today it would be considered domestic violence or child abuse. Teachers would throw objects at inattentive children and chatting too much would result in a smack with a ruler or for the boys - the cane. Some of our parents might have believed in a few sharp slaps for disobedience, however we learnt quickly because of these threats.
No. I never saw my Father raise a hand, or even raise his voice. I remember when I was about 18 or so, after my Mother had said a few nasty words and Dad went into the living room to get away from the situation ... I followed him and said "why do you put up with her verbally abusing you like that?" His reply was "I just tune out, otherwise it could become a problem".
I never, ever got into trouble at school ... perfect child, as I said. I did see Teachers at Primary School slap boys with the ruler and throw chalk and dusters at kids not paying attention. Mr Lane, in Grade 3, was a monster and his son was in my Class.
The yanks have a lot to answer for. My generation grew up under the threat of physical punishment for bad behaviour, but our children haven't. Has the softly softly approach been the better one or are young people too sensitive now?
I think that today's kids want everything on a platter. There is nothing "sensitive" about them. They just expect YOU to cater to them and they don't need to do anything. God knows what sort of Australia/World it will be in the not too distant future with everybody expecting dear old Somebody Else to do everything for them.
