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Spanking - a shortcut to nowhere...
Spanking:
a shortcut to nowhere...
Penelope Leach
Spanking and Non-Spanking Parents
Most parents in Canada spank their children.
A lot of parents take spanking for granted and don't give it much
thought.They got spanked for being naughty when they were
children.Now they've got children they hand the spanking out.What's
the big deal?
Some parents feel more strongly than that about spanking. There's a
group that feels spanking is an important part of bringing up
children;not only a parental right,but a duty.There's also a group that
doesn't really approve of spanking;wouldn't ever plan to spank,or do it
in cold blood,but can nevertheless be driven to spanking and then
regret it.
Finally,there are a few parents who feel that spanking is a very big
deal indeed and wouldn't lay a finger on their children however
maddening they were.Some of them have spanked a child once or
twice and never forgotten it.Non-spanking parents aren't especially
saintly or especially patient:they aren't all middle-class people with (or
without) nannies;they don't all have loving partners,supportive
families,nice homes or good jobs and they don't only have little girls or
just one child each.In fact, there isn't anything special at all about
parents who don't spank.They are just people who have thought about
hitting children and decided it's got no place in their family
relationships because it is unjust and it doesn't help "discipline" either.
Those parents care just as much as everyone else about their children's
behaviour.In fact,a lot of them are rather strict parents who set clear
limits.
I am a part of that non-spanking group,both as a mother and as a
psychologist.I believe that spanking-or tapping,or slapping,or
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