Hitting Kids

Do you think its wrong to hit kids as disciplinary action? And where is the line between discipline and abuse?

I agree totally. The punishment should be explained and talked about after the kid has calmed down as well to make sure he or she has understood why it was given and learned from it.

But wont the child get the wrong idea if the punishment is not taken out soon after the offensive action is made?

Kind of like disciplinging or hitting a puppy that did something bad a while afterwords, it is more confusing and the child may not know exactly what he did wrong, or not relate the punishment to the incident as much.

I do agree with you, that punishments are balanced and that there is a time for swatting and a time for just time outs or no desert, etc.

ok , this I actually have experience in. Discipline is confusing for children unless you explain why. My child has had one spanking and he can tell you what he did and why he won't do it again. We have rules and he follows them, I am more of a take away parent then a spanking parent. Each kid is different though. My son, take away the PS2 and you might as well kill him, so that is normally his punishment.

But you have to explain why you are punishing them. If you don't they have no clue what happened only they got spanked. And there is no lesson in that.

My mom used to tell me if I wasnt quiet she would drop me off on the side of the road and leave me there, lol.

It worked against her, just like JPM said, kids know when you are being serious.

Then again I once told my nephew if he stuck his tongue out at me one more time I would cut it off, and he thought I was serious. It took me an hour to get him to calm down and stop freaking out, lol.

You only discipline or threaten discipline when you're serious.

Katlyn Kristina- Yes, the child should be punished done very soon after the action for a young child. The parent should learn self control, however. When the child gets to be of an age where he/she can remember the day before the parent can wait a little longer to punish the child, but after the punishment the child should have to say he/she is sorry stating what they are sorry for in the apology. It worked on me when I was little and its still working. (Even though it has not been necessary for the past two or three years.)

I agree, Anne, that's what I was looking for someone to notice.

As the child gets older its a bit easier to make the kid sweat the punishment, because waiting for it is more guilt ridden and self imposed punishment, which can sometimes be worse than the actual punishment in the end.

I also agree with JPM, if you always do exactly as you say, and you never give a hypothetical punishment and then warn them 6 million times before giving it to them, kids are easy to deal with. It's all conditioning and follow through.

I was disciplined physically but NEVER abused - God knows I needed the odd ass kicking growing up...particularly the youth these days, Im suprised most parents can restrain themselves...

I parent my children the same way - but respect non disciplinary forms of parenting too

Im suprised most parents can restrain themselves...

Something to do with being sued I would imagine.

lol yeah kids can be pricks these days me being one of them

Well, it depends really what sort of hitting, as some children today are so out of control their parents feel they have no other option it does work to a degree as if the child is thinking that mum will give them a smacked bum then they will be less inclined to be badly behaved. However proper physical abuse is a bad thing which just terrifies the child rather than disciplines it

I'm so sorry you were abused like that. All I am saying is one or to swatts on their backside does work. It was used on me and I will use the same system when I have kids. Not just because my parents used the system, but because I believe that the rod of reproof works best. Smacking is not effective, My parents tried that method one time and have never used it since.