My parents grew up in the country, and they came from a generation of people who punished their children by spanking them. I know that I'm not a parent, but it wasn't that long ago that I was a child myself. I don't think that I want to hit a child. What do you think? How do you punish a child? I think the concept of being grounded or a time out is too lenient, but spanking is too harsh. Is there a middle ground?

That's a tough one. I grew up with my mom spanking quite a bit. I want to say I'm against it, but then again, it really does work. I agree with you, time outs just don't cut it. I'm honestly not sure what the middle ground is.

__________________
-Brittany Brydahl

I am fine with spanking when it is properly used. Way too often, parents fail to set and reinforce rules, and then they just get mad and spank the child whenever they feel like it. There is no consistency, and the child learns that "mom will hit when she's mad."

sometimes my mistress spanks me when I am a bad boy.

-F

wait a minute.....what kind of spanking are we talking about?

LOL! That's funny Farce!

I was spanked as a child and it did me no harm. A teacher actually spanked me on my very first day of school, it was such a shock that I never misbehaved again in school.

I admit that I have spanked my kids, not out of my own anger or frustrations, but to try and stop them doing something that could potentially harm them.

Kids are very sensitive to your emotions, and they know the difference between discipline and abuse. I had a friend who said her grandma used to spank her, always for a reason, and always making sure the girl knew grandma did not hate her. She says she adored grandma all her life. On the other hand, her father never laid a finger on her, but he would torment her with disdain or silence treatment. She remembered that for the rest of her life, too. It was much worse than spanking.

That's interesting, Lissy. I guess I'm just trying to reconcile how effective spanking can be with my own personal beliefs that you shouldn't hit a child.

Being spanked never harmed me, but at the same time, my husband and i (who don't have children yet) are not planning to spank our kids when the time comes. But it is a hard issue, because sometimes time outs and stuff like that aren't effective. I guess it will have to depend on the child, how old they are. Do they really understand that they have done wrong? Etc.

I guess it's just too unrealistic to hope that your child will be so well-behaved that the issue will never come up. I've seen some people spanking their children in public and even yelling at them, and I knew that I wouldn't want to be that type of parent.