People against spanking (and I'll say HITTING, because if some kid did some heinous thing you'd bet I wouldn't flinch at smacking them anywhere available at that instant) tend to confuse "physical discipline" with "abuse".
I was NEVER abused myself. I will stake my life on it.
I can count on my hand (I think, because all but 1 smack was way too early for me to recall) how many times my parents "spanked"/smacked me (or, for that matter, "roughhoused" - not all physicality is smacking, some is grabbing, yanking, whatever). The threat, after actually carrying it out, was surely enough, never mind the other "styles" my parents would use depending on the "severity" or immediacy of a problem.
The fact I only remember 1 time - because I was old enough to - should indicate I was well disciplined before school ever started.
Meanwhile I knew my parents were fair and loving (affectionate, complimentary, involved, always buying me stuff just for the heck of it, etc, to a fault).
But I knew they had the weapons and were willing to use them. None of this "not MY child" stuff.
There is a huge difference between discipline and abuse. They should not be confused.
Dear the OlLine Rebel,
Well, I distinguish between physical discipline and abuse, as well.
Nonetheless, I've never found it necessary to spank, hit, or smack either of my sons.
I was hit occasionally as a child, although on only one or two occasions would I term it to have been abusive. Of the four children in my family, I think I was hit the least. I was typically considered the best-behaved kid in the family.
Conversely, two of my siblings routinely got the daylights knocked out of them. I don't mean that they got spanked regularly. I mean, they got beat up. They were considered the less well-behaved children. One of these two attended three different high schools, not by choice.
So, one wonders whether they got hit more because they were just worse-behaved children, or whether the discipline meted out to them was just ineffective, never resulting in improved behavior in the long-term.
I don't know the answer to that.
I just know that I've never had to hit either of my own sons.
sitetest