Spanking?

[arewethereyet]

I was spanked and I was beaten black, blue, and bloody. By the time I graduated high school I had been given black eyes, a broken nose, been knocked unconscious, been kicked in the ribs, been dragged down the driveway by my hair...I could go on with gory details but won't.

I have three kids. My oldest was hard-headed and stubborn as all get out. No amount of talking, explaining, time outs, and all the other things you are supposed to do worked if she had her mind set. A couple examples from before she was even in school. After dozens of talks about the danger of the stove and that she should stay away from it so she wouldn't get hurt, she put her comb and brush on a burner and climbed onto a chair and turned it on starting a fire and setting off smoke alarms...my bad, I had to use the bathroom for two minutes.

Another day I spoke to her over and over again about not jumping on my bed. I tried to explain she could fall off and get hurt. She claimed to understand. Well, after doing it again, falling off and splitting her head open on the radiator to the point where she needed stitches, she finally understood and didn't jump on the bed any more. She might have responded to a spanking before we had to make a trip to the ER but we will never know. She abused herself to learn that lesson.

My middle child was a daredevil and not much was going to stop her. My youngest stopped certain behaviors if I raised my eyebrow at him.

There was the occasional pop on a well padded diapered rear end.

There were occasional pops on hands that reached one too many times for things that were hot or fragile and that had been warned about multiple times. It seemed a pop on the hand to get the message across that something could hurt them made more sense than allowing them to find out for themselves. Before anyone yelps about child proofing and watching them every moment...the only way to guard against every danger would be to put the child in a NERF suit and live in a padded room with nothing in it...nothing glass, nothing electric, no edges, no water, no anything. And sometimes you have to go to the damn bathroom, or another kid needs immediate attention and you have to look away for a second or two.

Every child was different. Every child had to be dealt with in a different way. Mine weren't beaten - I know beaten. I knew that wasn't going to be part of my method of child-rearing. But there were times that a quick pop with my hand...on their hand or bottom was the method employed. With three, I could probably count the number of times someone got popped on two hands. A raised eyebrow actually got the most attention out of all three when they were a little older.

I did leave a cart full of stuff in a store and apologized to the staff before I marched my three out to the car because I was not going to tell them one more time to stop fighting in the store. I only had to do that once.

I appreciate those who say they have an opinion, even a strong one, but also point out they aren't parents and haven't been put in the position of having to make a call on how to respond to an unacceptable action.