(July 16, 2014 at 1:15 pm)Losty Wrote: What you did wasn't punishment. You reacted instinctually to protect your child. I wasn't trying to imply that I thought what you did was wrong. I was just saying I have a hard time understanding why people's gut reaction is to slap the hand away instead of something less violent. Whatever you did, you stopped your baby from getting severely burned so I'd say you made the right choice regardless of whether I would have done it the same way.
Oh, I wasn't reading you that way. But as a parent I was always very aware of the lessons I might be imparting, both intentionally and unintentionally.
When his mother was pregnant, we discussed discipline and punishment and agree that spanking would be permissible, but only when other methods haven't worked. And as I said upthread, I agree with Luckie that once the child can reason, spanking is off the table.
My son's a very smart young man, always has been, and talking about what he did wrong gave much better long-term results. Those talks happened even after he got a swat on the butt.
