To Spank or Not To Spank
I know that this is a very controversial topic for most parents. I’m just going to go ahead and give you my opinion and you can do with it what you will!
It’s very simple, discipline is all about teaching your children that you are the boss. You are in charge and they have to respect that. You are the parent for a reason. You have more experience and you are responsible for molding your children into successful, functioning adults. I’m not saying that this always happens even if you do everything right, but I agree with the opinion that parenting has everything to do with how a kid turns out.
If you can teach your childrent to respect you before the age of four, your are well on your way. Think of all of the things that we learn before that age. We learn how to walk, eat, play, lie, etc… things we never forget. If you get your kids on track before they are in school, it’s almost as if you implant on to their brain, that they need to listen to what you have to say.
Every child has different personalities, that’s for sure, so you need to figure our what type of personality that you are dealing with in your own child. For example, when my oldest daughter was growing up, she was very concerned about my approval. She hated if I was dissapointed in her. I never had to spank her, because giving her a certain look what cease whatever behavior she was doing that I didn’t like.
My youngest daughter, Emily, was another story. She couldn’t care less about my approval as a child. If she wanted to to something, she didn’t care what anyone else had to say about it, including me. When she was three years old I specifically remember telling her time and again to not climb up on the kitchen counters. Everytime I turned my back, she would do it again, and again. I didn’t know how to get her attention. I did the time out thing, put her in the corner, would take away toys. Nothing, Nada! She kept going. I finally resorted to spanking. It worked with her.
Now it wasn’t like I beat her, but I would warn her once and then she would get a spanking if she continued to behave badly. It corrected her behavior. The good thing about this is that I don’t think I had to spank her beyond age four. She had learned to respect me. Both of my daughters developed very open communication and I think a lot of it is a result of disciplining them as little kids. So find out what method works for your children and be consistent!
Len :: Jan.20.2009 :: Disciplining Children :: No Comments »
