Discipline differences

[TeddyBear2015]

I have a purely hypothetical question of opinion. My DS is a baby so we don't have need of discipline yet because the worst he does is blow raspberries at strangers!

However on the TV this morning they were discussing smacking children. It's a contentious issue I know but I wondered what others thought. We were all smacked by my parents when I was little and it did us no harm but I don't think I would ever smack my kids. Is it something where there is an extreme it's good for? I know I once ran in the road and my mum smacked me so hard I still remember it now but it taught me a good lesson.

I think you just need to consider the modelling principle of parenting in the situation. What are you teaching your child by smacking them? And what defines a 'smack', a slap on the hand, back of the legs, bum, face, whether or not it leaves a mark? Everyone has their own opinion though.

Well as I said I've no need of anything with a baby but we always got a different type of smack dependant on the misdemeanour. Our parents did it to teach is consequences of things such as hurting each other or being rude. It was only ever across the legs or the bun but left a mark as a reminder for a few hours.

The worst was waiting for my step dad to come home and he would sit us down to talk! We preferred a good smack to that I've just seen both sides from my friends. Some people just like the gentle warning and naughty step approach and some go further. I have to admit with some kids the gentle approach seems to only teach them how to bide their time and they still do what they were doing before but just more covertly

Surely you can't teach a child that hurting others is a no-no by hurting the child yourself.

I understand showing the child hitting or whatever hurts by doing it back to them but it just teaches them that hitting is ok. I think a child should be shown what they should be doing and consequences be things like removal of privileges. And lots of praise & rewards for doing what they should be to encourage it. A child will do whatever gives them more attention, whether the attention is positive or negative its still attention.