Reaction Paper: Spanking
When I was a child, I could not remember a time when my parents spanked me. I
asked my mom how she and my dad disciplined my three brothers and I, and she
said she never spanked us. When we got into trouble we were sent to our room,
and had privileges taken away. My mom also said that she can remember spanking
my younger brother once, but left a bruise on his bottom, and she felt so bad
that she never did it again.
I personally do not advocate spanking. I could not imagine losing my temper to
a point where I thought I needed to spank my child. While I do anticipate that
having children will be a real test of patience, I do not expect that I will
lose my patience so much that I will spank my children. I find spanking to be a
real contradiction to what most parents tell their children. Most parents do
not allow their children to hit, whether they are angry or not. Even when kids
think another kid did something wrong, or bad, they are still not allowed to hit.
If a parent tells a kid this, and then turns around and spanks the kid when
they do something wrong, how will the kid ever learn that hitting is wrong? In
my opinion, there has to be a better way to discipline children. I think that
sending a child to a room where they cannot interact with anyone else, and then
taking away a privilege would be a better way of handling discipline. Also,
when I was a child, I can remember that when I was angry, my dad would come in
to my room after I had time to cool down and talk to me about why I was angry.
I can remember these as really fond times with my dad. It helped me identify
why I was so angry, and most of the time it was at my mom for not letting me
have my way. When I could identify why I was angry, my dad and I could come up
with a solution to solve the problem. I think that rather than spanking, this
is a good way to discipline children. They have a chance to resolve their
anger, but at the same time have something taken away from them so that they
can understand the behavior they displayed was wrong. To me, spanking is just
an impulsive way of discipline that instills fear in the children and resolves
nothing. It teaches children that spanking is okay and is a way of resolving
arguments between parents and children. Rather, I think verbal communication is
essential to solving these disputes. Hitting someone I love so much, no matter
how angry I am, just does not seem right