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Corporal punishment

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Because making you do countless push-ups or run until you are exhausted is better?

That isn't how discipline works. And the purpose of those instances are to build group solidarity, because we all did it together. regardless of who it was that made a mistake.

Hitting a child doesn't teach group solidarity. It teaches fear, and that hitting another is ok.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
A level of callousness I should not be surprised by.
I put the thread in comparative religion for a purpose. It is very interesting to me how the pros and cons relate to religion, or lack of religion. So far it seems to me the non-religious are in favour of non-violence with regard to children. I'll have to find studies.
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
The other thing that's important to remember is that kids are all different in learning styles. Not one size fits all. I'd certainly try a lot of stuff, as we have so many more known options. At school I used peer counseling, time outs, but mostly just chats. It depends on their age as well, as developmentally, the ability to understand varies a lot.
TOTALLY agree with that position.

Had three children and did not instruct and correct the three in the same method. They youngest, all it took was to look disapprovingly and she would cry.

Child number #2 was the tiger in the tank and watch out with her teeth... they bit!

Number 1 was a mixture of resistance and open hearted.

Each one special and each one a little different in application.

And, to be honest, we learned from the first and did better on the second and even easier for the third. On the job training :)
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
What mamma don't know won't hurt her was a guiding philosophy of my childhood. She would too say I stopped so it must have worked. No, I learned how to cover my tracks so I wouldn't get caught.

As an 11 year old I was caned hy the head master for talking to a local girl over the school fence.
The next week I did it again with the same result. The following weeks I was clearly not seen, or he had given up.

He wrote a letter to my mother about it that I had to give her at the end of term. She laughed her head off , and hoped that it was worth it.

I was beaten at senior school as well. But never cared as I had an excellent pain threshold. But I never caned anyone when I was a prefect. I had seen that many boys were liked me and just did not care, while others were terrified of just the thought. For both sorts, it was entirely the wrong punishment.
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
Times, they are a-changing. The wiki article shows when various countries abolished it completely. What is your religion's take on it? What about your country? How about you personally?

Corporal punishment - Wikipedia
Corporal punishment is committing violence against a child. If you think it's not, then you also don't suppose that it has any purpose whatever. But violence is NOT necessary, nor is it very effective, in teaching a child not only right from wrong, but HOW to understand why something is right and something else is wrong.

Corporal punishment against children? Never!
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
As has been pointed out, it's near universal consensus among child development psychologists and counselors that physically striking your child, to *any degree* instills fear based behavior, avoidance, poor communication and perpetuation of violence in future generations. It does not help with emotional regulation and discipline. And there is no sign that places where corporal punishment abounds have resulting social or scholastic improvement over places that don't.

It is important for parents to grasp discipline and punishment are not interchangeable words. It takes more discipline to not hit your child than it does to hit your child, better reasoning skills and better emotional control. And in many cases striking the child is not much more than a grown up emotional outbursts.

Finally, and I mentioned this in another thread recently, Christian parents need to stop supporting corporal punishment on children by citing 'spare the rod, spoil the child.' That scripture was most definitely not talking about hitting your child. The rod they were talking about was a shepherd's crook used to guide sheep back onto paths, usually by slinging pebbles to where the shepherd doesn't want the sheep to go, or gently turning the head of a sheep in a guiding motion, not by beating said sheep as punishment for going astray. All hitting a sheep will do is make them run *from you* rather than whatever potential danger you were trying to teach them about.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
Letting your child be a terror will not serve them well in life.
You are actually helping them by using discipline.

One of mine went into the military...can you imagine how he would have fared if he had never learned beforehand that authority must be respected?

You seem to have learned nothing, physical punishment teaches you nothing. Not even the military use it.
 

Wildswanderer

Veteran Member
That isn't how discipline works. And the purpose of those instances are to build group solidarity, because we all did it together. regardless of who it was that made a mistake.

Hitting a child doesn't teach group solidarity. It teaches fear, and that hitting another is ok.
Funny you said it doesn't work that way then illustrated that it does indeed.
Are you seriously saying that the military doesn't teach you to fear punishment? Even more so when others are punished for your screw ups.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Funny you said it doesn't work that way then illustrated that it does indeed.
Are you seriously saying that the military doesn't teach you to fear punishment? Even more so when others are punished for your screw ups.

Again. The rationale of an adult differs than a child. And no, fear is not what is taught. Because they know that to fear them is pointless.

Edit: I spent three years as an instructor for newly accessioned Sailors. We didn't use fear. We explained the consequences and we enforced them. No hitting, no forced running etc.
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Funny you said it doesn't work that way then illustrated that it does indeed.
Are you seriously saying that the military doesn't teach you to fear punishment? Even more so when others are punished for your screw ups.
They removed drill Sargent "shark attack" methods years ago. They can't touch you anymore. If they do, they're subject to removal and lawsuit. And what do you know, teamwork scores and criteria much improved by not having NCO's screaming and beating people. What a concept.
 
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