I have a very good son who doesnt require a lot of spanking but if he continues to do something after Ive told him not to I will spank him.

I do not have kids, but I look after a fair few from time to time. I can punish kids better through other means than spanking

I have never spanked my children but I have to say that they were good kids and I never saw the reason for spanking. They are both 17+ now and great, responsible, well behaved teenagers. Shows spanking isn't always necessary. If I told them NO and explained the reason, they would accept it. Tantrums I would ignore. Luckily they didn't have many tantrums. I was never spanked myself, so the 'no spanking' method was a natural thing for me.

My kids are grown and I never ever had to spank them. I found talking to them, on their level worked wonders. Spankings breed spankings, and grown ups are too strong to raise a hand to a child

For teh 1st offense, a time out, 2 nd time within a timeout.. 1 spank then another time out. Never had to go beyond that. Of course, my 2 year old catches on after the spank. I am hoping that one day, he won't need teh accompaning spank.

I do not have children and I think there are better punishments than spanking.

I don't have kids yet, but I have a feeling I will be spanking them, if they were like me when I was a kid that is. I know a lot of people feel spankings are wrong, but they were most likely spoiled rotten by their parents (I know, risking a downrate for being honest). Other wise had very rare kids that were just good. Naw my Dad spanked me and my brother a lot, and I always deserved it.

My boys have had their trousers "lit up" a time or two, but normally only for blatant disrespect or not listening. They are both extremely polite, honest and outgoing, so I don't think the swats scarred them mentally. In my humble opinion, you should never spank them when you are angry, because then it is a reaction. Children learn that it's ok to smack someone when they "tick you off". We handled our spankings like a "debt" We had a long, calm (albeit firm) conversation about the behavior, and when the time came, the swats were handled with a "let's get it over with" tone. We always followed this up with immediate positives. The spanking was done, the debt was paid, the subject was dropped to allow the child not to be shamed. Of course, the boys are mid teens now, and haven't had a swat in 4 or 5 years. (Now I get to torture them mentally) :)

Yes, I did spank, and I do know the difference between spanking and abusive beating.

I don't have kids, but I don't think I'd spank them. I'd go for the psychological punishment, it seems to work better. Ya know, striking children just seems to make them more angry. When you do something like ignore them for an hour, they move in the opposite direction. Of course, what do I know? I've never even babysat for anyone. Spanking kids is going to be made illegal in Maryland soon anyway, so I guess I'll never know.

we have 5 kids in our home and no we made a decision not to spank when we blended our family his 2 had been abused by the mother..so he did not and I will not spank mine for the same things his kids do that get no spanking..nor will I allow any differences in punishments for same offenses... IE if you forget homeowrk you have to write an essay about why its important AND you lose games for the day..and that goes for EVERY child EVERY time.. are there times they NEED it yes...do I understand why parents do absolutly..however in a blended family it just wont work.

I never found a need to with my first child. When my second one proved to be a bit more of a challenge I tried giving her a swat once and she just laughed at me. I knew i was in trouble at that point! lol I have found that reasoning with them and explaining what they did wrong and why it is wrong is much more effective. I was always amused by the parent who says "dont (smack)hit (smack) your sister! (smack)"

Spanking is child abuse, and this is being recognised legally in more and more jurisdictions. There are also far better, more effective ways to teach a child discipline. How can someone say to a child that violence is wrong, and then punish them using violence when the child breaks the rule? It doesn't make sense.

Occassionally yes, when they continually do the same wrong thing for example. I see nothing wrong with spanking a child within reason, it is part of the discipline process.

As mother, I did not. Their father did and those 2 older children grew up with low self esteem---getting physically abused by the very people that should be showing love, is so wrong. As a single Mom, I never spanked my third child (3 when the divorce happened) and now her good self esteem is being carried forward to her child. My answer to a similar questions: A leather belt was used by my mother and his own belt was used by my Dad....sometimes his had a metal end on it. The only other 'corporal' punishment was a slap to the face. NO, NO. I do not think that in any way it made me a better adult. I know that it did not make my older brother a better adult because he used corporal punishment on his sons and worse on 2 of his 3 wives---"the third wife laid down the law" so he never hurt her physically when he was drinking. (In every way he acted out at his family as an alcoholic just LIKE our father did. My younger sister was 'spanked', beaten, more than once with a belt and there is no doubt that it DID NOT make her a better adult. In fact, it led her to hate herself, have very poor self image, believed that she was no good in every way and she could never find peace with/from God. Her 2 worst "spankings" beatings with a belt were: at age 7 by our young 24 yr "saintly" mother; and, at age 17 by our father. Nobody remembers why she was 'spanked for doing something wrong" at age 7. I remember every blow and the yelling at her and her fighting to get away from mother's hold on her with one hand and swinging the belt with the other.At age 8, I was powerless as were my brothers, age 6 and 9. At age 17 in 1957, she still lived at home aand bought a car after getting a great job after her June 1957 graduation. Most Saturday nights she and a girl friend would go to a movie, bowling, skating, and similar activities that were available to teenagers in the 1950's over 30 years before the sexual revolution and ease in buying beer, and the use of heroin primarily in the NE U.S. One night she and her girl friend did not just 'drag' (as in the movie, "American Graffitti" that was filmed at the favorite drive-in, round, at one of the street that was crowded by teenagers every Fri and Sat nights) the street and yell at the boys, but they left town and drove 60-plus miles away AND she arrived home at 8:00 a.m. When she opened the front door father demanded that she go to her room...our mother and I were in the kitchen and, as at age 9, I could only listen to her screams because my interference at 18 would just have meant that he would become even more angry and beat me too. Same for our mother. (That evening she called our grandmother and was on the plane to travel 5 states away the very next morning.) What he had done: Made her remove her clothing all except bra and panties, used his stiff narrow belt with a metal end to beat on her so hard so long. The incident was not mentioned by our parents. You see, he had decided that she was out there having sex with one or more boys---being liki him probably several times a week when at his favorite bar owned by the woman he had slept with for several years before alcohol killed him at 47. How "in God's green earth" could those 'spankings' have made her a better adult. She never spanked her own kids who are 3 fine adults now. She died at 57. God was merciful for she was happy one minute and dead the next, before her son could walk around the table, when an anyourism broke in the front of her head. Sadly, the laws making such treatment Child Abuse did not come until the 80's. I realize that some adults can bury such memories so deed that they do not realize the power those buried feelings have on their adult lives.

I think spanking is personal choice. I also think there is a big difference between spanking and right out abusive, and other people should let parents make there own decisions. the only time others should be involved or have a say is when the child is being abused. I smack my childrens hand if they have been told more then once not to do or touch something. i've also smacked my child on the bum, but i don't know if that had effect as the nappy absorded most of it! (she is over 2, so don't make any comments about me smacking a baby, because she is way past being a baby!!!!!!)

I have..didn't look both ways before crossing the street..wack right on the butt. Didn't have to do it again.

No i don't have kids yet but from experience i can say that no one deserves to be hit even if they are your kids. I mean they are your kids and all but that doesn't give you the right to lay hand on them. SO no i don't think ill spank mine.

i love kids but i am still one, 'i will if i have to' thats ma daddys favourite threat line...lol

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I do, but not hard enough to hurt him, just to startle him so he will stop doing whatever it is he is doing. He's almost 16 mos. old by the way.

Yes I did and I don't regret it one bit. They are in their 30's now and they turned out just fine. One is a doctor,contractor and the one one will be a dental hydenist. I think it didn't do any harm to them . I only spanked them on the rearend.

I don't think a swat on the behind is bad for children, but..... spanking like with a belt that is wrong!

Nothing draws the battle lines quicker than the debate over "spanking." Some say that we are to use corporal punishment to shape our children into respectful, law-abiding, god-fearing adults. On the flipside of this debate are those who just as persuasively argue that as parents it sets a bad example - you are teaching your child to express their anger with violence. So where does the truth lie? more here http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/christian-parenting/discipline.html

No I don't. I Found other ways to discipline my child and I refuse to show him when things don't go his way he has to use violence. My son never disrespected me and I will not disrespect him either.

Im engaged so I dont have any kids yet. But when I do I wont spank them. I have other ways to show them that he was being bad. And what can a small child do to deserve to be spanked?

yes i do i have 6 kids and im 28 years old 5 of them are under two years old! and my oldest is 5 she a whirl wind crazy and hates being spanked on her bare butt. she gets it now and then but she usually gets a hardish spankin on her butt with clothes on her butt.

I don't have children, but if I ever do, I won't spank them. There are other ways of discipline that work a LOT better than hitting, however mildly.

No i will never spank my children. there are much better ways of disceplining a child.

I don't have children, but if i did i would never spank them, there are other ways to discipline children. I was never spanked and i was very well behaved.

i dont have any children, but i dont plan on spanking, spanking sounds like its paiful punishment and most people connect to to mean parents that just wanna hurt thier kids.. i plan on applying swift dicipline to my children so they dont grow up unruly and understand consequence, quick and just hard enough so they know they dont want it to happen agian. i'd love my kids too much to let them go astray.

i havent got any children, but i would never do that

No, where I live it is illegal to spank your child, of course, he is 21 and living away from home anyway.

My children are way to grown, but yes I would, and have.

I dont spank her frequently, but if its needed I have too.

i try not to, it is very rare that he needs a spanking.

Yes. I would rather have her learn consequences when the consequences are swats on the tush than to have her learn them when they are lost jobs, jail, repossessed cars, divorce, foreclosure.... I don't beat my child. I don't leave marks. I don't spank her in anger. I give her plenty of warning and chance to avoid the spanking. I don't terrify her. I always make sure she understands what she did to deserve a spanking and how to avoid being spanked in future. I comfort her afterward and make sure she understands which choices she made led to the spanking. My goal is to get to the place where she never needs to be spanked again as quickly as possible. My goal is to teach her to discipline herself, to stop the behavior before it gets that far.

There is a line between spanking and beating. Between discipline and abuse. I will spank when necessary, would never beat. I'm sorry, but 2 year olds just don't respond too well to reasoning.

I did not, I would not. It is child abuse.

I would not as it is illegal where I live.

If my child's behavior warranted such a punishment I would administer it.

Both of my boys (13 and 4) were spanked, I haven't had to spank my 13yr old since he was 3 and my 4 yr old RARELY does anything to warrant a spank. I think it's a good deterant to bad/inappropriate behavior.

I have and I will. My son doesnt do things that warrant a spanking (most of the time) but if he does then thats what he will get.

With toddler aged kids a light spanking is all right but after that it doesn't really teach them anything. A good parent should come up with more creative punishments that teach their child why what they do is wrong. But then sometimes they are just being a brat because they feel like it then a smack is o.k. if it's not overdone.

I would. I got spanked. Put me in check. lol

I did when he deserved it. I tried the time out thing and he sit and humored himself the entire time.it was a game to him. he enjoyed time out. he gave him time to think about how he could get in more trouble. My child in now a teenager and is not violent, not in juvenile hall, does not get in trouble in school, obeys the rules and is the most respectful young man you will ever meet. So if me spanking his little tush made me a bad mom than I guess i was but nobody will ever tell me that those spankings did not help him turn out the awesome young man he is today.

heck yah! i don't just stop at slapping them in the bottom! i slap 'em across the face, pull their hair, heck sometimes I pour hot water on their genitals! they don't get out of line because they get to spend so much time in the hospital thinking about what they did!

i do spank them if they deserve it . My son (8) is very naughty sometimes and doesn't listen . He got spanked many times (bare bottom)and i don't regret it .

yep... I also sack-of-potatos him and daddy-straight-jacket him.

no, there are better ways than negative actions to punish your kids....and all it teaches them is that it is acceptable to hit when things dont go their way. many dont know, but it is in fact illegal to hit your children, and this law is enforced by the CDC, CPS, and SCFS...regardless of the excuse you bring to the judge, it is still inflicting pain on the child on purpose in order to achieve your needs from that child. there is no good defense for it, and your children (even the ones not being spanked)may be taken into protective custody and set into a foster home, in which the parents have no information about...you also loose all parental rights in this situation. And that is even before an investigation begins! Now, dont get me wrong, I believe a kid needs a jumpstart every now and again, but why risk it?...all it takes is one person to make a phone call and say whatever...even if its a false call....friend of mine is a case worker, ive heard many stories. so this is not B.S.

Not any more,she`s bigger than me now, ha!All grown up!...I tryed not to but I fell back on what I knew.But not often...Removing tv and/or phone use worked the best.

I firmly do not believe in this type of discipline.

No, it is illegal here.

So how the hell do you people get your kids to do what there told the first time; I cannot believe spanking on the butt, open hand is illegal; spanking in the face sure Ill buy that, but weres the bite behind the bark, and dont tell me your kids are perfect little angels from timeouts.

No. Not that I'm against it's reasonable use by parents who feel it's how children ought to be raised. I simply don't feel so. A flick to the middle of the forehead can be just as much a mental trigger for them to stop immediately, and has the emotional impact that a spank would without the physical harm. My daughter was being pissy once and punched me out of anger, that time I bopped her good on the top of the head. I also expect them to know better than to pick a fight. In general, however, I find emotional punishments, such as loss of privilege or a recounting of what they did wrong as well as why it's wrong and whom they've hurt by their actions, to be much more effective. At 11 and 13 I can't remember how long it's been since I even flicked them in the head, at least a year. They've become pretty good kids and I'm quite proud of them.

i would give my kids a spanking via moral and philosophical debate, and carry inflatable globe with me so i could hit them in head with it. of course i would only do so to remind them that they have a purpose larger than themselves. i cant wait to raise a kid :)

No, I am a teacher and that could lead to big problems. As far as my daughter goes when she was small she got a pat on the butt or hand, but nothing like the spankings I got when i was a kid. BUT...reflecting on my fathers choice to rear his children, we all turned out alright, non of us abuse our kids. I think for the most part parents choose to NOT spank their kids BECAUSE they FEAR retribution from the law, CPC or some other government watchdog group.

Only when he needs it.