Who are you ok with spanking your children?

[Emily~Anne]

I am curious as to what the majority of parents here feel as far as wether or not they would be comfortable with others spanking their children.

Personally, me and my husband would not be comfortable with others spanking our children. What are your feelings?

[peaches]

i chose close family but generally, i dont like the spanking thing - maybe cos i dont have kids!

[Shad]

Don't have kids but if I did I wouldn't have a problem with them being spanked by anyone anytime they needed it. Now by spanking I mean a pop on the behind with pants up and if they feel the childs action was bad enough to where it needed to be brought to my attention then I would handle it myself later on as well.

I know a lot of people are all politically correct these days and what not but the way I look at is if a kid was only disciplined by their parents then they will behave around their parents and act like a heathen away from them knowing that nobody can touch them and if they do they can tell mom and dad and that person will get in trouble. I'm not talking about beating the kid but paddling I would have no problem with.

My presonal opinion is if you don't want others to have to discipline your child then do a better job at home at teaching them how to behave when away from you and there would never be a problem and the issue would never arise.

Edited November 15, 2007 by Shad

[Hunterpoet]

Granted it's been a few years, but this is how my wife and I view this.

If I do something wrong and I know it's wrong, first I fear discovery, then once discovered, although fearful, expect punishment to follow the discovery, but, and this is the important part, by the proper authorities.

I don't expect my neighbor to dish out any punishment to me if I have been caught speeding, although I respect his right to "turn me in".

I have been given charge over my children, that makes me the authority over them. However, just as the rule of law prohibits cruel and unusual punishment for members of society...I too as an authority(over my children) am prohibited from applying cruel or unusual punishments.

Now then, just as you do not want or expect anyone else in society to physically assault you, your children have a right not to be assaulted by anyone.

Corpral punishment(spanking) was always reserved for offenses that could have or did 1) Harm another human 2) destroyed property(unintetional destruction not included) 3) any behavior that put them in serious harms way 4) repeated offenses of what would normally be a lecture and time out(3 strike rule).

By the time my childen were 8 or 9 years old, spankings were no longer nessecary....the look and the voice let them know they were headed for trouble. However, the old tap on the head was still used when nessecary.

My wife and I have been very blessed and lucky. Our sons are fine young men that we don't have to worry about.

[Afal]

As a rule, I do not like the idea of spanking children, but on extreme occasions and NEVER IN ANGER, I do believe that parents should spank their children as a form of discipline.

[Marnie]

I believe parents alone should be the ones to administer this type of discipline. These days, I wouldn't trust another person to touch my son in any way.

[ParanoidAndroid]

I'm not a parent, but I don't think I would be comfortable with anyone but myself and my future wife (whoever she may be) spanking my future child. As a general rule, i do not think that corporal punishment solves issues, only represses the behaviour that is the symptom of the issue.

Not that spanking cannot be useful, but I would be very wary of letting anyone physically hit my kids.

Just to clarify - to me, a light swat on the backside (pants up, of course) that doesn't hurt or even inconvenience a child does not qualify as a "spank". A light swat is just a little jolt, that lets the child know they are on the wrong path, but without the fear-aspect associated with physical punishment.

Just my two cents though

[Emily~Anne]

My fear is someone outside of our family may spank in anger, and will not have the ability to do it in as connected of a manner as me and my husband can. If someone shows our littlest one the slightest bit of anger, he just melts down and you can forget about achieving true discipline by then. The purpose of spanking should never be to vent at all. And alot of people have a very, very hard time grasping that. It is just so important to have a very good feel for how your child thinks and reacts and be able to connect and remain connected throughout discipline. Otherwise it is inneffective and only harmful to the child.

In other words, I am just way too picky about how spankings are to be carried out, therefore, I am only comfortable with me or my husband spanking our children.

[Guest LadyC]

i selected the second option, because it was the closest answer. when my kids were in school, we once insisted that my oldest get licks at school... however, we were there to witness it. we had to be, to make sure it was carried out.

if this were 20 years ago, i wouldn't have been there to supervise, and yet i still would have signed permission for them to get licks at school. back then, it was a common disciplinary action used back in my day. i never was bad enough for swats, but my brother got his fair share.

but i wouldn't just let "anybody" spank my kids, either.

[exrockstar]

kids grow up not fearing anyone because parent don't want anyone to raise the kids but them.

nowadays we have a society where everyone fears kids.