Spanking

Cassie blogged a bit about spanking on Tuesday and I just thought I would add a bit more on that subject. The one and only time that I spanked my son he was five years old. I was having a very bad day and he was probably feeling my stress and refused to listen to me when I asked him to stop playing with some cards and get ready for bed. After asking him countless times he still refused to do what I had asked and so I raised my voice quite loud to show him I was serious and he picked up the cards and threw them at me. I lost my cool then and there and spanked him. He looked at me like I was a monster and then ran to his room crying hysterically. I felt so bad I went right to him and told him I was sorry and I would never do that again and I never did.

I realized that after the damage was done that there was a better way to discipline. I know at the time spanking seems like a quick fix and but in the long run it really doesn't fix anything. Sure it stops the child initially from doing something he shouldn't but studies show that children that are spanked are more likely to be aggressive, in fact a long term study in Ontario, Canada proved that spanking causes problems in adulthood including anxiety, major depression and drug and alcohol addiction.

Happy Parenting

Monicka