I have always been hyper sensitive about beating pets and spanking kids, ask anybody that knows me. I think parents have a duty to their kids to try to make the world at home peaceful, safe and provide for them.
So, if it makes you all feel better about spanking your kids, I will say this: I don’t have to like what you do. I don’t like it and you can’t make me like it. That being said, have at it, it’s your life, your kids, and you are the ones that will have to live with it. Not the way I’d do it, buy hey, I guess that’s none of my business.
Got it? Quote the Bible however you wish, act on it according to your own conscience. I don’t have to agree you are right and I don’t have to like it. You don’t have to like me not liking it. You don’t have to agree with me or try to convince me. That’s what makes horseraces.
Maybe when we all get to Heaven God will say “yldstrk you were wrong, you should have spanked your children more.” Or “you should have just shut up when people were holding forth about the Godliness of spanking.” But I don’t recall seeing Jesus spank anyone.
So, that is best I can offer. I am not of a mind to affirm anyone’s thinking the Bible says you have to literally spank your kids. So, go on about your business, and you don’t have to affirm my interpretation either.
If a parent follows Dobson’s suggestions consistently spanking isn't necessary because the parent doesn't get his buttons pushed.
One of the suggestions of Dobson that I found very useful was “practice”. For instance if a child slams the screen door, then a useful response on the part of the parent is to have him practice closing it quietly ten times.
If a child is squirmy in church or at the doctor's office, then “practicing church” or “practicing going to the doctor's office” for a few minutes a day for a few weeks helps a child learn expected behavior.
Also...His suggestion to use natural consequences worked wonders for our family. For example, one of our preschoolers whined about not going to Mc Donalds when the plan was to go for pizza. My husband quietly said to our son, “I am not having a good time.” He turned the car around, dropped my son off with a neighbor, and the rest of us went out for pizza. That never happened again with any of the kids. Throughout the children's childhood, all my husband and I had to say was, “I am not having a good time.” , and the misbehavior stopped immediately.
Believe as you wish, I have no problem with that.
But your comments about and to those you disagree with reveal a nasty and judgmental character. You aren’t going to persuade anyone with your attitude. You will be dismissed as an arbitrary and contemptuous crank convinced of your own rectitude.