Call me a Libertard, a Millenial, a Snowflake–call me what you will. But it’s time for change. The currents have been moving the last several years, in a better direction. I may be a Bible-believing Christian, but I am 100% against something that most Bible-believing Christians stand staunchly for.
Spanking.
We tell our children, “Don’t hit!” But what is the first thing we do (or threaten) when our child acts up?
“I’m going to wear you out!”
“If you don’t stop, I’m gonna pop you!”
“Do you want a spanking?!”
So, hitting is wrong…
Unless you’re a child that did something wrong.
And you need to be hit to correct the problem.
So what happens when your kiddo is in school doing a group project, and their neighbor talks to someone not in the group, which the teacher explicitly forbade. Is it all right for your child to haul off and hit that other kiddo? Whether it’s the traditional spank on the posterior or the less-traditional-but-still-used smack across the face?
“Absolutely not!” you scream.
Well, you have spent your child’s lifetime teaching them that it’s not ok to hit someone, unless they’ve done something wrong.
“Not at all!” you retort. “I’ve taught my child that I, as the PARENT, can SPANK them if they misbehave.”
But I can just about guarantee you that THAT is not at all how your child has processed that information.
They think it’s ok to hit–maybe just when someone’s done something wrong, maybe whenever.
You are sending your child mixed signals.
As if they aren’t confused enough with their emotions as they grow–little people with big people feelings.
And another thing: you’ve probably taught your child that their posterior is not an ok area for people to touch. Right?
But…that’s where (traditionally) you SPANK them?
We NEED to rethink our approaches to punishment.
I am not at all suggesting no punishment, only time-ins, etc. I still believe in punishment, though that is for another article. But there are so many better approaches out there than spanking your child (or someone else’s, which I highly recommend never doing, regardless of what permissions the parent has given you).
What can you do differently, maybe starting today?