On Spanking

Recently an old high school classmate of mine posted something on facebook in favor of spanking. I'll reproduce it for you:


Have to laugh at people who are against spanking. I sometimes got spanked when I disobeyed... I didn't hate them... I didn't have trust issues with them because of it... I didn't fear them... But I sure respected them! And I learned what my boundaries were, and knew what would happen if I broke them. I wasn't abused, I was disciplined....SINCE WE TOOK THIS SOFT APPROACH, LOOK WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY ,YOUNGSTERS, AND SCHOOLS !!!!!!!!!!!

Here's how I responded:

Once again, the truth is in the middle. People who say spanking is child abuse are way overstating their case. On the other hand, spanking has been constantly noted to coincide with violent predispositions in children. Here's some of the research:

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=2540224

http://www.jstor.org/pss/584804

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/98/4/837.short


I found it Ironic that you said "SINCE WE TOOK THIS SOFT APPROACH, LOOK WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY ,YOUNGSTERS, AND SCHOOLS!" Yeah, out of all the first world countries that exist, we use corporal punishment more most. We also have the highest murder rate. Just something to think about.

And I'd like to add something to all this: I was spanked as a kid. I don't think it did any good, and I think there are better ways to deal with kids than this.