Is it right to smack a child?

[xCookieDough]

Just watching the show This Morning, and they are discussing if it is right to discipline a child by a smack or so, I personally would never use a smach as a for of discipline for my child, I just couldn't.

Lets not get heated ladies, remember, everyone is entitled to any opinion...

 

[vaniilla]

its hard to draw the line, I don't agree its right to hit anyone child or adult, so won't be smacking lo. My parents used to be pretty strict and were smacked a lot as children and I have to say I still hold it against them. For me resulting to physical discipline is the last refuge for those who have lost control, if you need to resort to hitting someone to get a point across then that is your fault not the persons getting hit.

I hope no one gets offended, just because it's my opinion doesn't make it wrong or right

 

[xCookieDough]

its hard to draw the line, I don't agree its right to hit anyone child or adult, so won't be smacking lo. My parents used to be pretty strict and were smacked a lot as children and I have to say I still hold it against them. For me resulting to physical discipline is the last refuge for those who have lost control, if you need to resort to hitting someone to get a point across then that is your fault not the persons getting hit.
I hope no one gets offended, just because it's my opinion doesn't make it wrong or right

^^
This excatly.

 

[Thumper]

No debate here, I agree with vaniila. I was never smacked as a child as my Dad was hit too often by his father. The resentment he feels towards his Dad still is awful. I wouldn't do it.

 

[Quackquack99]

No I don't agree with it, we were more than 'smacked' and it just had a negative effect growing up. I thought that was the norm and it was allowed, I ended up in an abusive relationship thinking it was ok as I grew up with violence so its a big no from me

 

[Dragonfly]

I dont hit any one let alone my children. To me its assault to hit another person no matter what size they are.

 

[Blah11]

I don't like it either. I think its mainly done out of sheer anger of the parent and is rarely done in a controlled manner. Public smacking is even worse and seems to be done because the parent is embarrassed more than anything else.

 

[alaskagrown]

Smack - no, it really hurts. Can't imagine the pain for a child.

Spank - yes, it doesn't hurt as bad and quickly grabbed my attention as a child when I was being a brat! Let me know not to try to mess with my mom or dad ever again!!

I'll also note that my parents probably spanked me a total of 5 or 6 times throughout my childhood. It was enough to scare me of some ominous looming means of discipline that was always a possibility if I was being a brat....so I usually remained on my best behavior.
It should be used very sparingly otherwise it loses it's tactful power!

 

[Natasha2605]

No it's not right imo. A hit is a hit and why somebody would think it's alright to smack a child when it's never right to smack an adult ( in most people's eyes) is wrong...

Although I do think a 'tap' is different. i've tapped Summer's hand maybe on four occasions when she repeatedly won't take a telling. Tbh I do it out of sheer frustration when I could pull my hair out but it really doesn't happen often. Last time I done it was weeks ago when I was trying to hoover and she kept pulling the plug out of the socket whilst I was doing so. She was warned countless times to stop it, it was dangerous so after countless times I tapped her hand and said 'no'. She doesn't cry and often laughs. I explained to her that I would literally be two minutes and that would be it. And she stopped. She was just being deliberately pesky, she knows what I'm saying when I tell her not to do it.

That doesn't mean I was in the right though. A tap is simply my way of shocking her into knowing mummy's serious and that she mustn't do things like I described above. I've already said to my OH I need to stop doing it altogether purely because I always feel bad after. But at this age, where she's testing boundaries I use it as a very very last resort.

I hate to see children being hit in public, and it scares the life outta Summer when she sees violence cause she's so not used to it!

 

[Blah11]

Smack - no, it really hurts. Can't imagine the pain for a child.

Spank - yes, it doesn't hurt as bad and quickly grabbed my attention as a child when I was being a brat! Let me know not to try to mess with my mom or dad ever again!!

I'll also note that my parents probably spanked me a total of 5 or 6 times throughout my childhood. It was enough to scare me of some ominous looming means of discipline that was always a possibility if I was being a brat....so I usually remained on my best behavior.
It should be used very sparingly otherwise it loses it's tactful power!

Spanking and smacking is the same over in the UK. Whats the difference over there?


IDK, I'd rather my children respected me for the decisions I made and how I parent them than because i've hit them and made them fear me

 

[alaskagrown]

Smack - no, it really hurts. Can't imagine the pain for a child.

Spank - yes, it doesn't hurt as bad and quickly grabbed my attention as a child when I was being a brat! Let me know not to try to mess with my mom or dad ever again!!

I'll also note that my parents probably spanked me a total of 5 or 6 times throughout my childhood. It was enough to scare me of some ominous looming means of discipline that was always a possibility if I was being a brat....so I usually remained on my best behavior.
It should be used very sparingly otherwise it loses it's tactful power!

Spanking and smacking is the same over in the UK. Whats the difference over there?


IDK, I'd rather my children respected me for the decisions I made and how I parent them than because i've hit them and made them fear me

I see smacking as smacking a child upside the head or across the face. Spanking is swatting a child on the butt.

I see a lot of parents these days who seem to be afraid of their own children and afraid to discipline them...

Spanking never traumatized me because my parents used it as a scare tactic rather than doing it every time I got in trouble. I always respected them, and not out of fear but because I knew they loved me, but when I was being a brat...well...they're not going to sprinkle me with daisies and fairy dust and tell me I'm being naughty and let's have a sit-down pow-wow to discuss alternative choices I could have made to not be in trouble **sarcasm here**

I think a lot of (especially young) parents tread too lightly on disciplining their kids these days and that's why brat-ism is on the rise. Not that they need to spank their children, but think there definitely needs to be some type of discipline that acts as "wake up calls" to make children realize their behaviors are completely unacceptable.

 

[v2007]

Smacking never.

I once tapped Katies hand cos she ran into the road.

I tapped her hand cos i was more scared.

But never smacked her.

It instills fear and there is no need.

I have a ex friend who routinely smacks her kids. I am talking full on belts across their bums

I remember she once said she hit her eldest and she actually couldn't stop herself.

It chilled me.

V xx

 

[Tasha]

Thats horrible V.

I dont smack my children, if someone smacked me as an adult it wouldnt teach me anything but to be majorily pissed off with them and smack them right back.

 

[Dragonfly]

To me connecting with a child with your hand is violence. There really is no need for it IMO.

 

[twinmom]

Smack - no, it really hurts. Can't imagine the pain for a child.

Spank - yes, it doesn't hurt as bad and quickly grabbed my attention as a child when I was being a brat! Let me know not to try to mess with my mom or dad ever again!!

I'll also note that my parents probably spanked me a total of 5 or 6 times throughout my childhood. It was enough to scare me of some ominous looming means of discipline that was always a possibility if I was being a brat....so I usually remained on my best behavior.
It should be used very sparingly otherwise it loses it's tactful power!

Spanking and smacking is the same over in the UK. Whats the difference over there?


IDK, I'd rather my children respected me for the decisions I made and how I parent them than because i've hit them and made them fear me

I see smacking as smacking a child upside the head or across the face. Spanking is swatting a child on the butt.

I see a lot of parents these days who seem to be afraid of their own children and afraid to discipline them...

Spanking never traumatized me because my parents used it as a scare tactic rather than doing it every time I got in trouble. I always respected them, and not out of fear but because I knew they loved me, but when I was being a brat...well...they're not going to sprinkle me with daisies and fairy dust and tell me I'm being naughty and let's have a sit-down pow-wow to discuss alternative choices I could have made to not be in trouble **sarcasm here**

I think a lot of (especially young) parents tread too lightly on disciplining their kids these days and that's why brat-ism is on the rise. Not that they need to spank their children, but think there definitely needs to be some type of discipline that acts as "wake up calls" to make children realize their behaviors are completely unacceptable.

I agree with this. Spanking should by no means your main form of discipline, I would probably say it's reserved for serious misbehaving and not listening (i.e. running onto a street, touching a hot oven, etc). But I think way too many parents aren't disciplining at all...the right or wrong way

 

[Blah11]

Just because they're not obvious to you, doesn't mean people don't discipline 'these days'.

I think people look through with rose tinted glasses tbh. There was horrid kids around 20, 30, 40 years ago too. Infact, I think in the 70s there was more kids involved in 'bad things', just in different ways.

 

[Blah11]

& I remember feeling SO bad and guilty when my mum would say she was disappointed in me. Much more hard hitting than a smack could ever be.

 

[LegoHouse]

I smacked DD once...... The next time I told her off I moved my arm and she cowered like I was going to actually punch her or something. Can't smack her again

 

[Dragonfly]

I wasnt smacked or spanked whatever you want to call it by my parents, its just not something we done , None of my siblings or I needed it and we dont have criminal records either. We didnt want to upset our parents and rest of the family as they would be disappointed in us. That made me behave, the feeling of them being disappointed in me and ashamed was harsh.

 

[Quackquack99]

What could 'spank' of the bum or a smack on the face teach?in my experience parents who use any form of violence, do it to regain control of the situation. When I was with my abusive ex, he used violence to regain control. For myself, there is a correllation. I am really against it, I really feared my parents when they should have the people who I turned to.