Spanking a child as a form of discipline

No. I think that as parents our job is to help our children learn about the real world - both in terms of how they should respond to the world and how the world will respond to their actions, so that they will become increasingly independent.

Children do things that are unacceptable & it is our job to help them understand what behaviors are and are not acceptable. If we hit our children when their behavior is bad, we are teaching them another unacceptable behavior - a person makes you mad, hit them. Our children learn from the example that we set for them, so we have to have enough self-control and be smart enough to do things that will be good for them (and us) in the long term.

Just my 2 cents...
Rachel (mom of 5, ages 10 months to 13)

While spanking most likely won't leave deep psychological scars as some developmentalists will claim, it should still be a last resort for many reasons.

1. While spanking may be an effective behavior modification method, it will not teach your child right from wrong and instill thoughtful behavior.

2. Your child looks to you to model behavior. Spanking shows that violence is acceptable.

I would recommend a combination of natural consequences and what is called positive redirection. Look for signs of misbehavior and anticipate problems before they happen, this allows your child to be successful.  Instead of just saying "no" give limited choices such as, "I cannot let you play with that glass because I am afraid you will get hurt. You may hold this plastic cup instead or else find somewhere else to play."  

Natural consequences mean consequences that are sensibly related to your child's action. "Because you are screaming at me while I am trying to cook dinner, I cannot have you in the kitchen until you stop".

Good Luck! 

I don't have any kids, but I remember what it felt like to be a child.

My mother spanked and slapped me a few times and I can't say it damaged me in any way. Actually, a lot of time when she would have a talk with me after I did something wrong, I wished that she would spanked me and get it over with. The thing is that while spanking was a very clear punishment, those "conversation" was a very unclear punishment, that meant sitting down and listen to my mother describe how horrible I am and  how I heart her feelings.

I think that the main thing that's wrong with spanking a child is how easy it is to cross the boundry between punishment and violence, the way that my mom managed to do in conversation. and that this is a serious risk - to turn abusive on a kid and react is violent anger.

Personally, I think there are better ways to teach children then punishment, whether it's physical or not. 

I remember asking a similar question

I have found as a parent that a serious conversation was fine and theoretically good but there were times when I did resort to spanking (extremely few) and that was when one of my four children did something dangerous. But after I spanked I held the child close to show that I still loved him/her and the spanking was for their own good.