Smacking

[missrandom]

How can people think its right to smack their children. I just watched a snippet from a tv program, and theyre spouting off about it bringing respect to the parents etc How can loosing your rag so much that you physicaly hit the people you love most, bring you respect? It brings fear.

[meltoadhall]

do you have children?
sometimes as a parent you can get so frustrated and cross, through tiredness or upset that you dont know what else to do.
it also becomes a vicious circle for some parents that they dont know how to cope because no-one is there to help them
yes i did occasionally smack - not hit - my children but now they are older i can use reason (mostly) to get obedience and hopefully the respect from them.

[missrandom]

yep, i sure do. and yep ive done it on the odd time with my first child, however i do now see the error of my ways, and now i never ever hit them. personally i really dont see a difference in the word hit or smack, same thing just a different way of saying to make you feel less bad, and less face it, i know i felt awfully guilty afterwards, i knew it was wrong which is why i stopped. once youve said to yourself i wont hit them now matter what, its actually pretty easy, not to do it. i was really meaning the parents that use hitting/smacking as a means of discipline, not by "accident" when they have just lost their rag, for whatever reason.

[annie0000]

I think I saw the programme you are talking about - was the one where the parents were bringing them up to be "godly"?

I think that they were trying to say that it would make them better christians!

They also thought that they way they hit their children was much better, because they didn't do it when they were angry. Pesonally, I have very occaisionally smacked my kids which as you say is wrong and you do feel guilty and doesn't really help, but this has been when you are at the end of your tether and you just don't know what else to do, I disagree that this is worse than hitting them in cold blood with a switch (bit of a tree) on their bare behind.

I think that at least the children then get to know the warning signs that mum (or dad) are getting really angry, they then know when to stop before it reaches a smack. I also disagree that you would hit them harder, because a bare hand over a fully clothed bottom that is usually moving away from you as the hand reaches, probably doesn't even hurt. I am still not saying that it is right.

[missrandom]

I meant that its worse to hit them in a "plannned" way, rather than when you loose your temper, too. sorry I wasnt being very clear. However my kids dont seem to be too worried when I loose my temper and to "hit them where it hurts" (sorry, excuse the pun!!), I have too either take something away from them, be it time or material objects. I would love it if they just did as they were told, but wouldnt we all. goodness the older my children get, the more I realise what people mean when they say children are hard work!!Beautiful and amazing but hard work.

[wigglebum]

Its all personal preference really. There is that fine line between hitting a smacking and some people do go overboard.

I myself have smacked my child but have stopped this now as he was smacking me back and getting us nowhere so now he has a naughty chair and so far fingers crossed it's been working!

[NORMANTHEDOG]

kids should be beaten daily with a lump of wood with 6 inch nails in.

[Fairie]

Norman you seriously are a dog !

[.v.natco.v.]

I find smacking a very harsh punishment, as there are plently of other ways to tell your childen the difference etween right and wrong.
But havnt most of us been smacked when we were a child? Has it harmed us?

I will never smack my children but i do beleive there is a big difference between a small smack and beating your child to death.