Do you, did you?

[vbhoutex]

TOUCHY SUBJECT!!! And well it should be!!!

Unfortunately, as with most things in life there are two extremes here with a very gray middle ground. As with Streetsoldier, NO PERSON OR ANIMAL should be subjected to that type of WANTON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR which is the product of low self esteem. On the other hand, of course, there is the "don't raise your voice, you'll ruin their self esteem" group. Neither is right. RIGHT IS WHAT WORKS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL in any given situation requiring discipline. THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES IN THIS SITUATION AND THERE NEVER WILL BE. I absolutely believe that EVERY CHILD MUST BE DISCIPLINED. Otherwise they have no way of defining good and bad, wrong and right, blah, blah, blah. That discipline should never be administered without the person on the recieving end knowing the parameters they violated to deserve the discipline. Otherwise it is useless to discipline and the reciever may wonder "why am I being treated this way? I did nothing wrong." That is a major part of what forms the line between discipline and abuse.

As I was growing up I was disciplined by both spanking-ALWAYS ONLY WITH THE HAND-NEVER WITH OTHER INSTRUMENTS!!! and other methods. That is something I have carried with me all of my life! I saw way to much ABUSE of my friends, either by their own parents or by coaches at school that were too dumb to know what they were doing. I never allowed my children to be corporally punished in school because of this. They have both turned out to be decent people that I am proud to say are my own.

[streetsoldier]

I agree that the laws regarding what constitutes "abuse" have been taken to extremes, friends...but do try to remember that those legal protectiions didn't exist in the 50's and 60's. It is also important to note that only my oldest sister and I were targeted for "correction"...the other three siblings became active abusers themselves, under the direction of our parents, who turned a blind eye to what happened (if not specifically "ordering" it).