When I was at the age where my parents were trying to teach me right from wrong, my parents laid down the law with a firm hand. They made sure I knew what they expected from me, and what was exceptable behavior and what was not. I can remember crystal clear how I felt when I got in trouble and had to go wait in my room for my father to come to talk to me. He would come in and talk to me about why what I did was wrong and if I messed up pretty bad then I would receive a spanking. At the time I thought that was the worst thing a parent could do to their child.
I also never understood when my dad would say, “This is going to hurt me a lot worse than it is going to hurt you”. Now that I am older I realize those spanking I feared so much where very important in deterring me from continuing the bad behavior.Hopefully one day I will have children of my own. I see myself raising my children very similarly to the way I was raised. I will be strict early on so that they learn first off what is going to be expected of them. I will try to as supportive as possible of their interests.
When I was young my dad encouraged me to try different sports and was always supportive of my efforts. I think this is important in developing a child’s self-confidence. I will plan to use physical punishment as a parent. I think it worked effectively with my brothers and I, and will work with my children as well. The only negatives I can see from physical punishment is that some parents take it to far. There is a definite line between punishment and child abuse that unfortunately some parents cross.
This can have detrimental effects on a child’s life. With proper use though I believe that physical punishment can be an effective means of punishment and behavior correction.
