I was involved in a discussion a few nights ago that shocked and silenced me.

[The Straight Story]

20. I think it is about communication to some degree

I have never spanked my daughter (she is 12 now).

But had she, when she was 1 or 2 and could not understand the words I was speaking, tried to put something into a wall socket I might have given her a little swat and told her no firmly (voice and physical reprimand she was not used to) for her own safety so that she associated doing something like that with something negative.

When kids are older and can understand things more - no.

Never wanted to, never needed to, never did.

Not saying there are not better ways, but when you are dealing with a young child that you cannot reason with and want to save them from potential harm it might help to scare them away from doing such things (and not some hard ass spanking to inflict pain, but a physical response that shocks them out of the normal).

It has been enough, and still is, for me to raise my voice a little (or more now to let her know what she has done has hurt me/worried me/disappointed me/etc).

One reason I never needed to result to such when she was a toddler is that I watched her like a hawk - and still do even when she is on the court playing with her friends. She did get near things and did some things she should not have as a baby and I used a change in my voice to tell her 'no honey, that hurts you' and redirected her to more pleasant things.

Parenting is hard (I have 5 kids total) especially when you have more than one and are trying to keep them out of things and safe - it should not be about punishment but about protection of them. I would rather they be pissed off at me as an adult for a quick swat on the ass than to have them not grow up at all because I was in the bathroom and they stuck a piece of metal in a wall socket/ate bleach/etc.