Hi guys...

I am a mother of two gorgeous children and although I don't smack them...much...the new zealand government wants to legislate that it is illegal for parents to smack children or discipline them in any way. What I want to know is what does everyone think of this...although I dont smack generally I don't believe that the government here should take away my RIGHT to discipline my children in a controlled loving sort of way. So do the poll and post here what you think. You can also read HERE a related news story.

Becky

I only skimmed most of the posts... but I got a few spankings as a kid. Not hard, and not mean, but they got they sent the message for sure.

I think it's a personal choice, but I'm all for spanking kids if need be. Especially after my drive-thru experience the other day.

So I was in the Wendy's drive-thru, and two cars up there was this GIANT SUV and there was a little boy in the back seat, probably about 8-9 years old. They were a car away from the order menu/speaker "thingy" and this kid rolls his window down, climbs OUT of the SUV through the window, runs around the outside of the car for a few minutes, and as mom pulls up to order he jumps up, puts his feet on the window ledge, and climbs on TOP of the SUV while mom is pulling up about 15 feet!!! So, if that wasn't bad enough, mom starts ordering, and the kid jumps down the 8 or so feet from the roof of the car, and starts screaaaaaming into the speaker while mom is trying to order. Her response? "Alex honey, mommy is ordering." (oh. my. god.) The kid's response? "Shut up I'm talking to the lady and I'm getting my TOY (i assume he means in the kids' meal)!"

First off, i wanted to SMACK this child... second, mom made no move to even tell her kid to get in the car, let alone enforce any rules. After screaming at the poor woman taking orders, little boy climbed back in the SUV via the open window again, and proceeded to hit his mother on the back of the head with some kind of inflatable toy until pulling up to the window to get food, where they held up the line for another 4 minutes while the kid threw a fit about getting the wrong toy, and then got a new one... sheesh. beat your kid already...

Disciplining your kid is a kind and loving thing to do. The kid described in the above post is going to have a tough time in the adult world. He doesn't realise that nobody but his mother is going to put up with him and cover for his bad behaviour. This is a kid that only a mother could love, and she made him that way.:phanvan

Spanking wasn't a punishment for really minor things in my house. There were a handful of things we'd get spanked for, and we pretty much figured out what they were and quit doing those things. Sure, my mom probably spanked us a bit harder than she had to to get her point across, but we're all fine, lol. And whenever we got grounded if we weren't at school or doing homework, we were doing chores.

I do agree that different punishments work for different kids. My future sister in law worked in daycare for a good while, and all they could do was say "that's not okay" and put a kid in time out. They couldn't say "what you did was bad", or anything with the word "bad" in it. I just don't see this doing much for alot of kids. Especially the ones that run their houses (vs the parents).

I think we (as a society) are teaching our children to be wusses, and that for some reason they should get their way in life. I know middle aged people who don't understand why things don't go their way, or why you would DARE say no to them if they asked you for something. It's very hard to work with.

Anyway, I do believe that spanking a kid is different than slapping them or hitting them. I believe that the reason you are spanking them needs to be explained before and after it happens, and I believe there is a point where it will quit working (the age of reason someone called it), and of course there are some kids it wont really effect. I don't believe the gov't should get envolved.