Study Links Spanking to Later Mental Disorders: Is Spanking Ever OK?

You've got it all figured out, don't you? As a pediatric nurse, I can assure you that there is spanking for discipline that we NEVER see show up in our units, & then there's the sadistic beatings, shakings, cigarette burning, etc. that show up with CPS & police. I think you need to stop your judgmental attitude toward average parents & just concentrate on the abusers. We should not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I had 3 brothers & a sister, & I can promise you that 2 of my brothers would NEVER have learned to behave without spankings, & they grew up just like the rest of us, in a loving home. The parental unit tried talking to them, putting them in the corner, having them go without candy, cake, ice cream, etc., putting a sliver of soap in their mouth for a few minutes, being grounded, etc.. My little brother loved mischief & liked starting fires, & another brother liked to bite his siblings. They needed "spanked". It worked. The brothers are respected members of society. ;-)

And NO, not EVER did I see my parents as "the stronger and more brutal" of the species, nor did any of us grow up to think that "winning" means showing someone who is "stronger and more brutal". I always understood it to be done with love & an end to teach discipline & respect. Without discipline, children grow up like they are doing today . . . with lack of respect, discipline, critical thinking, etc. And is that really what you want them to learn?

My one and only child, a daughter, was popped once on her diaper for trying to stick things in the wall socket. It only hurt her feelings & shocked her into removing herself from the safety hazard. She is now 24 yrs old, a cryptological Hebrew linguist, pre-law student and Staff Sergent in the USAF, overseas. I couldn't ask for a better child, & I don't think she could have had better parents. I recommend spanking only as a necessity when other means don't work, & dependent on the child. For you to unilaterally tell others that there is NO time for spanking is to reveal a naive & self-righteous attitude, IMO.

The self-righteousness has nothing to do with your beliefs about hitting a child, but it says a lot about how you condemn others who do. I understand that you are coming from a different perspective; however, that does not give you the right to emphatically tell others that they are wrong, and you're making assumptions that all spanking is coming from a position of anger on the part of the parents. Out of all the spankings I've had as someone's child & as a student in school (spanking was the norm back in the 50's & 60's), I don't remember even one being administered in anger, nor do I remember ever being hit in any other area other than my buttocks. You're passing judgment on others without knowing the circumstances. THAT is the "self-righteousness" of which I speak.

As a "medical personnel" and university professor, I can with much assurance tell you that unless we see how the research was conducted, how many subjects were used, any extenuating circumstances (problem children vs "normal" children, Northern vs Southern children, type of disciplinary problems, what has been tried in the past with that same child, any formal counseling or psychiatric visits), etc., then like all research, we must take it with a grain of salt. A study needs to be both valid and reliable in order for it to be useful, and I don't think that our kids are being taught in school how to evaluate "studies", research, statistics and gossip so that they are not believing everything they read.

For instance, there was a study done last year, as I recall, that indicated that "gossip" was good for us, and yet any thinking individual with morals and common sense will tell you that gossip is harmful to those who spread it & those who listen to it, & that it often destroys lives. We've also been told that peanut butter causes cancer, then studies showed that was not valid, then another one that said the jury was still out on it. Do you see what I'm saying? Gullibility & naivety is detrimental to any healthy society, much more so than spanking a child on the "padded" part of their body.