RE: Long Term Effects on Your Children of Spanking
Spanking just teaches your children that 'might is right'. I never spanked my children, however I did slap my daughter's hand once when she deliberately attempted to destroy my speaker grill to challenge my authority or just to see what would happen (not sure what was really going on in her mind). Even that slap is something I probably should have handled differently, but she was the eldest and I was still learning how to be a good parent. Neither of my children ended up as trouble-makers and in fact I think they turned into wonderful adults.
I did get spanked, and sometimes when I didn't deserve it. However I knew my parents were not perfect and made mistakes. I also knew they loved me. Somehow I turned out OK and am a non-violent person. All those spankings I got did not turn me into a raging bull.
Thank you for your response, happyme. I'm glad to hear your story about your kids and spanking, as I had a similar upbringing and growth pattern with my daughter. I spanked her hand up until she was two, then after learning more I got rid of all of that. You're right about the might makes right being present in the spanking method.
When it comes to "it didn't turn me into a raging bull", I don't think the spanking helped you be a peaceful person, I think that you became a peaceful person despite being spanked. The love parents have for their kids can dominate a lot of the negatives that spanking brings and there certainly appears to be a correlation between intensity and frequency of corporal punishment and anti-social behavior.
Thank you for your comments!
I think you could be very correct on that idea. We will never know for sure, because I can't live 2 parallel lives and compare (at least not that we know of at this point). It does make sense though and logic would support that theory. Thanks for the great article!