Runner,

As the father of seven , one deceased, I think I know more about human nature than you would like to believe. I do know, however, that "bashing" people is dysfunctional and is far from being the only way to instill respect into children.

I can guarantee that if I started a firm of butchers, or solicitors, or hairdressers, or any other kind of occupational group, with one of the job requirements being that all employees should be male, and another that they should profess lifelong celibacy, I would have a tiny number of applicants containing a very high ratio of peculiar people, and subsequently very little choice about the quality of my recruits. By limiting its own choices in this bizarre way the church has virtually guaranteed that a high proportion of its priests will be self-deluded, mentally abnormal, and/or practised liars. To that extent at least it is culpable for its employees' actions.

Well said Jon J.
SD

Foxy,
>> Punishment does not deter misconduct. <<
Put thus - well, I agree, taken out of context - this is questionable. The problem is not punishment as such (as some educators think today, or thought until recently) but its harshness, even cruelty. Appalling was not that fact that stealing a handkerchief was punishable in Britain but the absurd harshness (deportation) of the punishment certainly was.

Discipline, like surgery, requires precision -
no random cuts, no rambling comments. Above all,
a parent demonstrates self-discipline and good
manners-no tantrums, no insults, no blistering
language. The parent never abdicates their moral
authority. A parent does not enter mud-throwing
contests with children. A parent's discipline is
never bizarre and their correction is never sadistic.
Parents who resort to verbal vilification and
physical force teach violence. Hence the blind
belief in punishment is passed from generation to
generation is dramatically illustrated in Willard
Motley's book, "Knock on Any Door." Upon hearing
that his son Nick was sentenced to death for
murder, his father said, "I can't understand it...
I always whipped him when he did wrong."
Nick himself, in his death cell, has not better
advice for the upbringing of his newborn nephew than,
"Don't let what happened to me happen to him.
Beat the hell out of him. See that he does right."

Foxy,
You have obviously read a bit on the subject. I cannot say I have but I have written a bit based on my own observations.
You cannot select your parents or the circumstances you are raised in but it is essential you learn how to make the most of the hand you were dealt.
Those guilty of child abuse in any form should be punished without doubt but living your life looking back at things that are long gone serves little purpose.
SD