True Mom Confessions and Answers with Brett Berk: 3 Reasons you should NOT spank your kids.

Laughable, just laughable. What an idiot!

My kids get 1-2 spankings a year. They really have to do something bad. They hate the spankings so much that they are well-behaved. I know some of my classmates who weren't whooped and they've already been to rehab and have major drug/relationship problems. I was beat as a kid. I had to stick my nose in the corner. I turned out fine and a better parent than the ones that stick their kid in time out and use words. Kids don't have a good recollective memory as it is.

I have a 3 year old son. I use to think I would never ever spank him. Well I just recently started spanking him on the bottom and it works. I hate to spank and its my very last resort. If time out or nothing else won't work I agree with a smack on the hand or a spank on the bottom. My son sometimes does naughty things for no reason and that's not nice dosen't work...trust me. I believe if you discipline them while they are young then hopefully by 10-12 they will be well behaved and have respect and follow rules and directions. So spanking should'nt be necessary after that.

There is no one right or wrong way to raise a child. If there were, in the course of history we would have found it out by now and everyone would do it. Why would there be only one right way? Every parent is different. Every child is different. Every situation is different. There isn't one right way to have a marriage, learn a new skill (some learn by doing, others by reading, others by seeing it done, etc.) or anything else. Why should there only be one way to discipline your kids? Even within the same family there can be major differences between children and some respond better or worse to different methods.

That said, just because you aren't spanking doesn't mean you are doing everything right. There are plenty of parents out there who don't spank but are really lousy parents. Personally, I think grounding your kids or taking away things for days or weeks is far more useless. It just prolongs the whole situation. Do they even remeber that they can't watch that TV show this week because they fought with their sister last week? Once you take away the video game, what happens if they do something else they shouldn't? Taking away the video game makes sense if the kid is misbehaving in relation to the game but what does it teach them about treating their sister with respect if you take it away for fighting? Just because you don't spank doesn't necessarily mean you are teaching your children self control or discipline or being any better of a parent.

I also don't think you are just an awful parent because you do spank. Kids aren't stupid. They know the difference between a spanking given by a loving parent when they do something wrong and being hit randomly because a parent is out of control. Face it, no matter what you do to discipline your kids you wouldn't do to an adult. When was the last time you made your spouse stand in the corner, took away their phone or forbid them to leave the house or see their friends? If you did, it would be considered abuse or false imprisonment. There is a reason kids aren't treated exactly like adults.