'Is it ever OK to spank a child?'

The real Dick Whitman goes soft on his kids because of his upbringing - son of a whore, the "uncle" apparently used to abuse him.

But I'm only on season 3, maybe things change.

 

I was hit a few times by my mom and dad. Most times my dad threatened to hit by taking the wedding ring off his pinky (never figured out why it was on his pinky) and lifting his hand as if to smack me but he'd usually refrain.

The hitting never deterred anything.

I doubt I'll have kids even though I want them. If I do I will not spank.

 

That's what you say now, but it is so difficult to know what you will do and how your ideas will change once you actually have a child of your own.

 

Yes, it is.
And every kid is different and responds to different forms of discipline.

 

My mom's Jewish Guilt killed me much worse than any hitting/slapping.

 

I think Mizzou's takes are very good. Spanking and beating are two different things.

Whenever I spank, it usually is only once and never more than three. You also should not do it when you are pissed.

 

Jewish Guilt also affects everyone in earshot.

 

I think that's true in many cases. But views on corporal punishment is something that is pretty anchored in a person's personal philosophy. I don't doubt that some change their minds. But I don't think this is quite as malleable of a tenet as, say, swearing that you will potty train a particular way.

 

Yeah, I hate the way the initial question was worded.

Is it ever OK? It's very judgmental way to ask about how you discipline your kids.

If it's your go-to method of discipline for your kids, that's a problem.
If you do it regularly, that's a problem.
If it escalates beyond an open hand, or become a face slap, that's a problem.

But ever?

 

I was raised in the lion's den. My parents yelled and screamed like motherfuckers so many nights, just fucking went at it, and the entire neighborhood heard it. How do I know this? I'd hear them from blocks away on the way home from playing basketball or riding my bike. It was really an awful environment to grow up in.

But Jewish Guilt isn't so loud. It's subtle and it's devastating.

 

I think the author asked it that way because, in the piece, she actually does explore situations in which it might be justified. She talks about single mothers in bad neighborhoods a lot, for example.

 

That is what the "No kid should ever be spanked" crowd fails to understand. No one is advocating spanking a child in anger. That is NEVER appropriate.