Slapped my 6yo boy this morning - am I evil?

[Rococorita]

Can't stop crying. My 6yo DS was acting up before school this morning. Wouldn't get dressed, shouting rude things at me, and finally whacking me. I snapped and slapped him - quite hard - on the cheek. I have never done this before. He was shocked and burst into tears. On the way to school I told him I loved him and was sorry but he said he hated me and would never kiss me again. I'm a complete wreck.

Have I done irreparable damage - and should I be turning myself in to social services immediately?

Surely if more people are brought up in an environment where violence is unacceptable or even not known within family units, that should go a long way to reducing violence in wider society.

Who suggested that, Kerry?

Oh christ. I'm starting to think you're a bit thick, Kerrymum.

oh ffs KM hitting your kids never works.
you just end up feeling like shit.

Umm, but the OP doesn't fit that profile, winky.

I don't think this is the right thread to be having a general debate on 'violence in the home.'

She slapped her kid on the cheek. She feels bad. We all would. That's why she posted here.

There have been many times when I've wanted to throw mine out the effing window. Of course, I have not .. but he's so challenging on occasion, that I certainly don't discount the possibility that one day, I will slap him on the cheek.

It might go to counteract, in some visceral, unwanted way, the number of times he hits me during the day.

Managing anger is a two-way street. Parents and children can learn from the experience .. and as another poster wisely pointed out, what's really important is to talk about it afterwards.

Hadn't they been inspired by some awful horror video, Chucky or something?

I have read that Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton were also both badly abused when they were kids.

I guess we've wandered off topic and everyone has a different opinion on punishments and deterrents but there can be no doubt that a lack of respect for authority underpins much of what is wrong with our society today. Just how many of our older generation will say that they feared their parents and did exactly as they were told but yet still managed to grow into law-abiding adults (within a largely law-abiding society)?

I was following the way the thread was meandering, Desi. Mainly in response to MannyMoeandJack.

Do you think its ok for children to smack each other if the other persons actions don't please them? How do you decide what is a punishable offence in a small child?They don't often do things that warrant hitting them ans please don't churn out the old fingers in the plug socket cliche!

KM no one has called you thick or poor here.Surely on a parenting site we can all agree that htting children is wrong.

KM you know I love you. but this thread is not all about you.

Why is your definition of atrocious deserving of being hit.And what is atrocious in a child.High jinx or pure evil

I'm anti smacking. I don't make that assumption that smackers hit their children 100 times a day.

How dare you assume that about me? It's ridiculous the assumptions.

One of the killers of James Bulger was hit with an iron bar by his parents. Clearly not hard enough for MannyMoe's liking

sorry missed that one post typical

Yes, I called you thick. You just didn't seem to get the gist of the discussion and kept popping up with stuff like this:

"I love the emotive use of "violence" by you lot. "

Hitting is violent. Whether on the backside or legs or face. It's violent. It's not emotive to use that word in reference to hitting.

Actually Noddy, someone did call her thick!

Anyway, let's not argue about this, girls.

Raising children is organic. It doesn't come from a text book. Perfect parents are dissed quite as often as bad ones. Children most crave the ordinary variety.

I do occasionally wonder whether the very vociferous anti-slappers, (and let's make it clear that in an ideal world, no one wants to be a pro-slapper), are the mothers of girls?

Because believe me, a little boy can hit you black and blue ... all in the name of love, of course!

My uneducated guess is that if you found a normal person in the street who had been smacked as a child, in 99.999999% of cases that person would NOT be a violent offender. I am willilng to bet my house and kids on it!

No-one says it's the reaction of choice. FFS! Some of you are complete nutters...