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A whipping you'll never forget

This is making the rounds on the news services and blogs (this was from KOCO TV 5, OKC)

I had to remove the post due to copyright restrictions. But you can read it here.

If you want to start a hot debate on a subject, open up the spanking vs. non-spanking conversation. It will get heated in a hurry. So if you want to jump on this and start something up, here is food for thought.

I was spanked as a child and abused as a child. There was a very clear difference. Spanking resulted from wrongdoing on my part. Abuse resulted from loss of control on my father's part. I'm saying that without any judgment or condemnation. It is the past and I am well beyond that. But I make the point to say that there is a difference between the two.

The spankings that I remember (and there were few) carried with them a deterrence factor. A spanking was something to be avoided, thus whatever resulted in a spanking was to be avoided. Abuse comes out of nowhere. It is completely at the whim of the person who loses control. There is nothing to avoid in the case of abuse.

I suppose what is at issue here is the persons involved. When I am emotionally at the edge of control I know enough to back off. I have spanked my kids but it doesn't happen very often at all. And it does not happen when I am close to being out of control. Nicholas has gotten more spankings (by nature of being the first and by nature of being able to push my buttons) but he is also the least aggressive of the two boys. He is a pacifist to some degree (he doesn't even really like to wrestle or roughhouse; but he plays a mean game of Halo). I really don't see him being more aggressive any time soon.

I believe that spanking has a place in a parent's choices of punishment. It cannot be frequently employed. It cannot be done when a parent is emotionally out of control. It cannot be excessive. And if a parent has a problem with any of those, then find some other way.

What do you think?




But before I leave off let me offer up a bit of a gripe. Go back and read that quote. Did you see any problems logically with what was stated? More tomorrow.

Comments

It'sallaboutbeingHaley said…
One has to wonder, if it is possible that the children who were spanked frequently already had a tendency towards violence hence the need for 'frequent spankings.'

On a much more basic level, correlation does not equal cause.
7:47 PM
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