@suseonline

"made of metal with barbed spikes
laced with poison
the children are tied down

and yes, i belt them with uncontrolled anger
most of the time when i am half drunked

and all the time with their mother pleading for mercy"

run away?
no, i will stay as long as you would like to hear some more 'jack and the bean stalk' to help you sleep

platypus,

"and there are just that few categories that will call for the cane

a. telling lies
b. disrespectful to elders
c. cheating
d. engaging in activity that is life threatening
e. not doing homework or putting their best into studies"

Caning small children for not doing homework or putting their best into studies?

How does it get to a stage when one is required to cane his child in these circumstances?

You don't seem to understand that other parents manage these misdemeanours without resorting to physically beating their children.

The fact here is obviously that you were/are deficient in an ability to instill discipline without physically assaulting the people in your care.

You seem to believe that if a child isn't beaten, then he or she is incapable of toeing the line.

As I remarked before, we have two children, neither of whom were serially beaten or caned. One is a successful well-balanced adult and the other is a well-behaved respectful eleven year-old.

The joys of corporal punishment threads.

General observations
- There almost certainly are people who are better equipped than myself to deal with reasoning with small children in a way that produced a good outcome without having the option of a smack as a backup.
- Threads on strategies for child discipline not involving hitting don't seem to elicit much interest from either side.
- There is some evidence that corporal punishment applied regularly or at too old an age has a statistically significant (but not large) correlation to violent behaviour in adults.
- I've not seen credible evidence that infrequent light smacks for young children produce any identifiable harm.
- Some of the ardent pro-smackers are scary in their passion for smacking. It seems to go well beyond a reasoned strategy for dealing with some of the practical issues involved in raising children.
- Most of the parents I know who claim to have never used corporal punishment on their children also appear to have a very different view to others who deal with their children regarding the character of those children. That's a personal observation and may well be impacted by the behaviour of the children drawing attention to the parents discipling views.

Summary
I do think there is some place for mild corporal punishment as sometimes the combination of parental ability and a particular child's temperament limit the effectiveness of discipline without a fall back which the child can't work around or ignore.

I would prefer to see a far greater passion from some for discussion of constructive strategies for child discipline than I've noticed.

R0bert

RObert,

"I would prefer to see a far greater passion from some for discussion of constructive strategies for child discipline than I've noticed."

Sorry mate, but just gobsmacked by someone proudly proclaiming that he caned his kids from 2 - 12 years-old as a matter of course.

Was specifically addressing the "caning" issue.

(Big difference between light smacks for very small children and installing a regime of caning/beatings based on fear and physical reprisal - especially for misdemeanours and/or character formation)

@poirot

We are making progress
Now you backpaddle and say "A light spanking is fine"
wow.
Did you lightly spanked your 2 children?
What would you say if Mrs Smith called the police and reported you for child abuse?

And you must think I belted my children with uncontrolled violence?

I must congratulate you for your parenting skills.

You see… I do not poke my nose into your house on how you should lightly spank your kids.
Have a little respect for the way I discipline mine.

I have the feeling that we Australians love to mind other people’s biz, worse when we advocate that the State is in a better position to bring up our children, especially for backward parents like myself.

2 years ago I was on a short hols to Brisbane.
At one of the touristy shop, an item for sale was “Here is a paper bag for you to put your bullsxxt in”
I thot that was funny.
But not to a young 25-28 year old mother.
She berated the owner for setting bad examples to children (imnpressionable children she said)
The owner of the shop stood his ground. Good on him.
On the way out, I saw the same self righteous lady smoking in front of her 3 young children.
I told her smoking is bad and she should know better than to do so in front of young children.
I told her she was a hypocrite for berating the shop owner over the sale of a paper trash bag.

Dear platypus1900,

Doctors are trying to get spanking outlawed because they see the results of it coming through their doors on a depressingly regular basis.

I once witnessed a young child being spanked by her father for running off in a car park. While what she did would have placed her at risk the actions of her father were appalling. He grabbed her by the arm and struck her bottom with real force and with real anger. Her body was repeatedly lifted off the ground with each blow twisting her arm severely. This is what the medical profession see, severe bruising to the upper arm and often torn ligaments even dislocations.

When I told him to stop he told me to butt out. He was then informed that any more and he was getting reported. Aside from glaring at each other these were the last words spoken and he left.

While this was done in the open I generally regard disciplining behaviour that a person isn't prepared to do in public as something they are ashamed of. This might not be the case with you but be that as it may if I saw you caning a 2 year old in front of me you would not be getting told to stop because I would be too busy putting my boot up your backside. That is how much respect I have for your kind of disciplining. Zero.

But don't worry, I would be doing it with love and with the sole (pun unintended but taken) intention of modifying your behaviour. Remember “If God disciplines who He loves, why shouldn't mortals follow the example.”

While they are your children they are also members of my community and deserving of my protection and that of my society where possible.

And only because it seems important to you I will report my children were never spanked. One is now doing a Psychology degree and the other completing her final year of high school. I am very proud of way they are prepared to stand up for those being bullied or unjustly treated.