Would you ever hit a.... CHILD???

This is horrible. children do need loving discipline and this is not the way to go about it. I use the naughty corner for my grnad twins and my children were sat down on a chair without a book or any toys if they were naughty. Or a toy might be taken away for a day etc. Children need love and lots of it. If a parent is about to lose it then the parent should walk away until they are in control of themselves. Blessings

Wow. I'm a mother of 2. I don't beat my kids (even when they probably deserve it...LOL). I have on occasion given swats on the behind when it's been needed but that is MY choice. I'd be very upset if their teacher hit them in any form. If there was a problem with the child the teacher should have dealt with parents, not taken it upon herself to hand our that type of punishment.

i am from a country that takes hitting as a means of correcting children's wrong but i will not hit a child to the extent of leaving scars on his or her body.for me i am having a scar that can never be erased on my body due to my cousins wickedness. but i doeesn't give me the encouragement to hit others. i muust confess that mylot is quite an interesting site where useful discussion are made. RID ON EVERYBODY!!!

This is a tough one. I don't disagree with smacking a child, if they are old enough to understand why and there is a good enough reason for it. When I was at primary school my 1st year teacher, who happened to be the Headteacher used a ruler on your hand when you misbehaved or didn't do what was expected of you. It happened to me once, my mother went to the school as she was not happy about it at all.
Looking back, it didn't do me any harm, there is no permanent damage, I don't have any mental scarring, it is just what happened back then.It taught me a lesson though!
My mother also used to smack me, again it did me no harm and there was always a good reason for it. None of these incidents were wrong as it taught me a lesson and it was only ever done when everything else had been tried.
I now have a daughter and on 2 occasions she has had a smacked bottom, it is always for good reason, she has a very fierey nature and on occasion it is the only way to get through.
I think unless you are a parent or have regular contact with children, by this I mean you are a teacher or a nanny or parent etc, you cannot comment on how wrong you think it is or say that you would never smack a child. Each situation is different, children need to be disciplined and to be taught right from wrong, if the occasional smack achieves this then I don't think it is wrong. It did me no harm nor my relatives who also endured similar lessons in life. It is not abuse of any kind as long as you are in control and your child does learn from their actions. With respect to you, children are very good at being angelical with certain people, do not be fooled, this cute little girl could have another side, almost every child does.
Please don't think of me as an awful person, I love my daughter more than anything in this world, I promise you she will grow up remembereing the good times and a happy childhood and will have forgotten about the odd smack here and there. There is too much rubbish these days about what you should and shouldn't do to discipline children, the reason half of them are trouble when they grow up is because they have had no discipline at home and the parents have not spent enough time with them teaching them right from wrong.

This is actually the first discussion I've read a few replies before replying myself. Usually I just reply and read afterwards.

I, and my two other sisters, were brought up with punishment and then discipline. We hardly ever got away with anything. My parents would give us time out, groundation, etc., etc. It all only works for so long. All of that. Being sent to the room for time out, if they got all kinds of stuff in their room, you pretty much sent them to play. I love the parents that do this, and then they wonder why their child tells them the way its going to be. Unless you can have a totally clear view of their room as I do with my son, so it's either read a book (he didn't like reading or writting at the time, but he loves it now), work on his writting, or stare at the walls. Well anyway, and another thing about our parents, they always knew the answer before they asked us a question. If we lied, we were either standing in the corner, kneeling on rice, holding big thick dictionaries with our arms spread and don't dare drop one, and when asked the question again and the truth still wasn't said, then lets add another dictionary, or longer time for the other punishments. Well, we all got strong arms for that. If we didn't learn our lesson and continued disobeying our parents repeatedly and repeatedly, well time for the spanking.

You know what? It worked! I can tell you that much, for we hardly ever repeated the same thing twice. Growing up, yes we all hated it, but we were'nt ratting each other out. So, in the end, all 3 of us would get the same punishment. As we got older though, taking the wrap for us sisters all together ended. None of us was going to do that anymore. Now, I'm glad it happened. Every now and then my sisters and I will talk about those days, and all 3 of us agree, it was the best thing that could happen to us. We learned from it much better than any other punishment and if more and more people would do this to their children, within reason and deserved, I think the children today would'nt be so bad. We all turned out awesome, great careers, great lives, respect for people and property, and it did us no harm in the long run.

I agree with meandmy3, there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving a child a spanking if it's deserved. Today, all around me, all I see is very disrespectful children and teenagers. I see the child being the parent and the parent not even caring. I guess they must think, as long as they are out of my hair. These are definitely parents who don't care about anyone but themselves and then they wonder why their child/children treat them and everyone else so terribly. Gee, I wonder why.

I could never just walk up to my parents and say, "I'm going to my friends house, be home around 11:00pm." as this one child did. I sat their waiting for the parent to say something like, "I don't think so, especially on a school night and you call that asking?" That's what I would say to my son if he thought he could just tell me what he was doing and that's that. Now, I was totally like Wow, when all this parent said was, Ok. I didn't say anything to this person, but my mind was just a going a mile a minute for I just was flabbergasted. I've seen these teenagers do this quite often to their parents and to me, sorry, but the parent does'nt care in my book. Well, 11:20pm at night, the son is still not back, no call, nothing. Well, upon further inspection, I found out these teenagers (15 & 16) have been doing this since they were 8 years old. They NEVER had a day of any kind of discipline at all. The father tried, the mother prevented it, and now it's definitely back firing in both their faces. Now she wants him to do something about it, 7-8 years later, and now it's definitely to late. They take what their parents say like a grain a salt, and just turn around and do what they want, after they laughed and swore right to their parents face.

All kids have their interests, friends, and fun, but remember they are only kids. They change up just like that! So what may work today isn't necessarily going to work tomorrow or next week. When they get older and have all these video games, IPods, Mp3 players,cell phone, all these wants that really, they don't need, well then again you will have something to work with and take away as punishment of what they really really like. Yes, then it works again. But again, only for a bit. As I see with my teenage son. I know what to take away or not let him do certain things when it calls for it. Like Back Talking, Failing Grades, etc. He's not running me for I'm the parent, not him. He has tried a few times, which I understand why afterall he sees the kids around him doing it, but he knows it's not working here. So nice try.

okkidokitokki also has a very good point, one should NEVER punish their child when they are angry, period! Take your time out, then handle the situation when you are calm. Most hitting or abusing a child comes from one whose totally angry and lose control. I've been there, so mad to the point, that I sent my son to his room and I'll clean or cook thinking how to handle this, until I'm calm enough to address the situation. No kidding, kids definitely know how to push their parents buttons and they do at times. Quite a bit.

Hitting, Beating, and even Verbal abuse to a child (I can't stand the ones that always have to swear and degrade their child/children), definitely deserves that parent to be childless and behind bars and a real sentence, like years.

One quote to remember, Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child. This is definitely in the bible and reading it will definitely shed some light and meaning to many.

Many people in jail wish they had a stern parent who hit them from time to time. Being hit does not feel good so a young child who does not understand your wisdom will understand that they do not want to be hit anymore.