[Knock3Times]

I actually have no strong position for or against spanking, but I thought some freepers may...

[GeronL]

11. too many letters after his name

[sinkspur]

LOL!!! Popcak is the same guy who thinks it is "educational" for a teenage male sibling to "chart" his teenage sister's periods as training for Natural Family Planning.

This guy is just plain weird.

I used corporal punishment on my two boys, and they're both police officers.

Go figure.

[Loyalist]

Greg Popcak doesn't strike again!

[american colleen]

Never had to spank my kids, thank God. My dad did it to us and all I remember is hating him for it, being humiliated and just hiding bad behaviour better in the future.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

In study after study, spanking has been found to increase deceitfulness, noncompliance, oppositional/defiant behaviors and violence in children.
Research consistently demonstrates that corporal punishment creates and maintains "willful defiance" and other unmanageable behavioral problems. (Thus, the notion that "willful defiance" deserves corporal punishment is exactly counterproductive.)
Children who are spanked have lower average intelligence scores, and demonstrate poorer school performance. This is not because they are less intelligent, but because they are more reluctant to demonstrate their intelligence for fear of being 'wrong' and, as a result, harshly judged.
Spanked children show less creativity and are less inclined to take healthy and appropriate risks; yet are more likely to take inappropriate risks.
Children who are spanked demonstrate a diminished ability to say 'no' in personally demeaning or dangerous situations (including drug use and sexual situations) - especially when encouraged by peers.
Spanking has been shown to significantly increase violent/bullying behavior (especially in boys) and shyness (in girls).
Children who are spanked have higher rates of constipation of the bowels, depression, substance abuse, suicidality, anxiety, and irrational fears/phobias.
Long-term studies indicate that girls who are spanked show a greater risk of ending up in abusive marriages; boys who are spanked have a higher than average chance of becoming abusive spouses.
Adults who were spanked as children tend to be less happy in their marriages.
Adults who were spanked as children tend to reject the religion of their parents.

---

I hate to agree with Popcak but he is right. All of the above happened in my family.

[dsc]

"I actually have no strong position for or against spanking, but I thought some freepers may..."

Yes, I am very strongly for and against it.

I have five children. They have all been different individuals with different personalities from the hours of their births.

My two oldest needed the occasional spanking when they were younger, but sometimes other measures were called for. The two in the middle have needed almost no spanking. The youngest, now almost four, is more like the older two.

To say that spanking is never called for is as silly as to say that every minor infraction should be punished by spanking. It depends not only on the child, but on how he feels about what he did.

It has been said that spanking "just" makes the child hide bad behavior. I can remember lying to my mother to avoid a spanking. But what were the effects of that? For one thing I still remember it after over 40 years, and for another I still feel bad about it. It helped teach me the ramifications of doing things we're later going to want to lie about. It helped teach me to think before I act: is this something I'm going to be ashamed or afraid to admit?

The worst thing any of my kids have done occurred a few years ago. In grade school, my oldest son was caught shoplifing toy car parts. I could go on about him having fallen in with an experienced shoplifter and being led astray, but let's take responsibility here. He did it, and I'm his father.

On that occasion, my judgment was that a spanking wasn't the thing to do. Instead, I let him see how ashamed and sad I was, then I gave his bicyle to charity. (The bicycle was involved because he had ridden it to the store; much farther than he had permission to go.)

That seemed to work. In the end, we made a promise: he would never do it again, and I would never bring it up again. That seems to have worked.

There are times, however, when he is challenging me and it is necessary to demonstrate that I will back up what I say; that is, that the rules will be enforced.

My older daughter sometimes needed spanking; my younger daughter almost never. My oldest son sometimes needed spanking, my middle son almost never. My youngest son, again, sometimes.

To paraphrase a popular comedian, the only people who think they have all the answers are people who don't have any children. I do believe one thing, though: sometimes, for some children, spanking is absolutely the right thing to do.

By the way, the "good science" Popcak throws up is not science at all. It is "social science," for which real scientists have well-justified contempt, and it is perpetrated by the same people who hang out at DU. That's worth thinking about.

We have people from all walks of life on FR. Or almost. We have MDs, but how many university psychology professors do we have here? How many professors in the fields of sociology, women's studies, or philosophy? Those people wouldn't last a day here. They hang out at places like DU.

And, to repeat, it is those people who perpetrated Popcak's "good science."

[HarleyD]

"First, I must...counteract...certain scriptural passages. Second, I must encourage parents to accept the views of modern science...

When I took out all the fancy PhD words this was what I got. The author will counter the Bible because modern science says it is so. Pretty lame excuse.

PS-We've never wanted or needed to spank our child but there are PLENTY of people who are not as fortunate.