Iowa Mother Charged With Child Abuse For Spanking Child

[Leo2man]

I found with my boys that spankings were necessary from time to time. I don't believe you can take this tool out of a parent's arsenal without major problems. Kids need to be taught boundaries and sometime, that teaching is in the form of a quick swat on the behind.

If time outs were working and supposedly teaching non violence then how is the increased violence in our society explained?

I know we have more and more media reports of violence, but an increase in sensational reporting should not be equated to increased societal violence. If you examine reporting trends, societal violence is in a decline overall. With the odd spike in some years, but overall, for at least the last ten years, it's been in a decline.

[conlor]

I think kids can be reasoned with. You let them know what you expect of them, love them and they'll love you and want to do the things that please you. No spanking, no screeching or yelling. You can enjoy each other instead of having them fear you. You're still the boss and they have to know that.

Respect begets respect.

[Scrappy]

Absence of fear... fear is an instinct that teaches or you can learn from, you can't have courage without fear. Some kids fear different things differently, that's for sure.

[Snowden]

Well, I found that each child was different. One couldn't stand being still; his punishment was to sit on a chair. One didn't want to be touched; his punishment was the threat of being spanked -- it only happened once. The other could see reason. None of them needed much in the way of being reprimanded, but each one had his special area that made punishment a possibility. Happily, it could usually be avoided.

On the other hand, my husband did tell me I would have made a good Marine sergeant...