A paddle or a switch?

[kentuck]

Which is worse?

In grade school, our principal, Sawyer Mills, had a paddle with holes in it that he kept in his office. It was fear-inspiring. Nobody wanted to face the "paddle".

I'm sure this was common during the '50's. But times have changed.

Also, when Moms ordered their children to "cut a switch", many times it was used as a stalling tactic and to use fear as a discipline. Once it was used to make huge whelps or to bring blood, then it was obviously abuse.

However, as much as we can all criticize the "paddle" or the "switch", both were preferable to hitting the child with the hand. Usually that was done in a fit of anger by the parent and hurt the child more than the calculated use of a paddle or a switch, or in some cases, a belt.

Hopefully, we have progressed beyond those times. Parents have found other ways to punish their children for "misbehaving". Go to your room and no TV or cell phone for a week. And less parents are actually punishing their children physically as they did in the past. They talk to them about right and wrong.

Is physical punishment of children actually necessary in a society as violent as ours?

[notadmblnd]

1. My mother had a paddle

My sister Jo would laugh at her when she was spanked with it. I remember my mother breaking it on he butt and Jo still laughing. Jo still has issues with my mother and she's now 56.

Our step dad's favorite saying was "line up, who did it?" then proceed to grab one of us by the wrist, whack us with the belt and move on to the next one until someone fessed up. I often took the blame just to get the damn thing over with.

I've never ever struck my child.

[WestCoastLib]

2. I got the belt as a kid...

However, I could outrun my father by the time I was about 8, and he never caught me again.

[elleng]

3. Teachers,of.all.people,

should.use.WORDS!

'Each individual is valued and respected. Our charge, strengthen minds, ensure equity, and honor individuality...

Honors the individuality of each child, give children time and space to grow and nurture the strengths of each individual. A fundamental understanding of the developmental stages of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth informs all that we do with children,foster intellectual and emotional self-reliance, with a guiding value of respect for each other.'

honors the individuality of each child. We give children time and space to grow and nurture the strengths of each individual. A fundamental understanding of the developmental stages of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth informs all that we do with children. We foster intellectual and emotional self-reliance, with a guiding value of respect for each other.'

http://www.lowellschool.org/about-our-school/mission-philosophy/index.aspx

[femmocrat]

5. I remember paddling in the schools as recently as the mid-1980s.

Then parents started to sue and it stopped.

[Warpy]

4. Kids soon found that little switches left bigger welts

and hurt more than the bigger ones did because parents would swat them fewer times with a bigger switch.

Paddles with holes in them were called blister boards because they'd cause the skin to blister when they were applied with sufficient force. They were banned in schools in NC just before I moved south.

A lot of kids I knew preferred switching to shaming.

Still, it's an era I hope we never revisit.

[cali]

6. what evidence do you have that switches and paddles are utilized in a less angry way

than a spanking administered by hand?

Do you think physical punishment is OK in a society that isn't violent?

[kentuck]

7. No. I think violence is wrong in all forms.

However, I think hitting children with the hand, in the grocery store or wherever, is more likely to be reactionary. I have no evidence.

[Puglover]

8. I just turned 60.

My Grandmother IMHO was and always will be one of the most precious people in my life. She was kind, spirited, tough and a insanely wonderful cook. She taught me how to make pie dough with lard, do a turkey and chicken with home made noodles. When she left us I sobbed. And I was 35 years old.

One night when I was at her house I was playing with some neighbor kids. She came and got me and told me to wash my hands "dinner was ready."

I washed my hands and advised her I was going back to play until the food was on the table. (I was 8) She said no. I said I was and she said "if I have to come and get you I am going to cut a switch from the willow tree and switch you all the way home." I went and she made good on her promise.

Years later when I would joke about the story I can still see her eyes twinkling as she said, "Oh I didn't switch him very hard."

I have no bad memories of that incident. Actually now I don't remember it at all. Just the story.

That said, I don't think you should hit anyone. Your child included. Ever. There are other ways to discipline a child. That said, I don't believe everyone that swats their child is a abusive monster. This douche bag who is in the news DREW BLOOD. He should be in jail.

[SheilaT]

9. Like those are the only choices?

There's always a belt, or a hand or a baseball bat.

Wait, I've got an idea! How about not striking a child at all? Naah, no one would ever do that would they?

Punishment will continue until morale improves.

*Stepping down from my sarcasm platform.*

[Wait Wut]

10. There are enough studies available...

...to show that physical violence does more harm than good. I'm sick to death of hearing the excuses that people are giving to Peterson. Oddly enough, I just read his "apology". If he's being sincere (I have no reason to doubt), then his "protectors" need to STFU. I never doubted his love for his son, I figured it was the "my parents did it" excuse, but he seems willing to move forward with counseling and to build a much more trusting and loving relationship with his son. That's a helluva lot better than the crap I've been reading on the internet from people that once were up in arms over Rice beating the crap out of his now wife.

It's just gross. I wish the Peterson family the best. Because of his very public life, he'll have no choice but to get help. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he would have gotten help anyway. People really need to stop making excuses for him. It won't help him.

[intaglio]

11. If people want to indulge in child abuse you should also mention the tawse

Or perhaps such abusers should be like Michael and Debi Pearl using a length of plumbing line which has the added bonus that you can use it to herd cattle for milking afterwards. Teachers used to favour 3 ft rulers at one time or a simple 12 inch one repeatedly across the palms or knuckles but perhaps nothing really beats birching either with a single twig or with a soaked bundle of withies.

These barbarities should be abandoned no matter what tradition says.

[KittyWampus]

12. how about electrical shocks? And now I am thinking about A Clockwork Orange.

[HereSince1628]

13. What part of an adult hitting a child with a weapon doesn't seem offensive to you??

I find this whole line of reasoning from WITHIN the culture of adult violence against children repulsive.