Did your parents use spanking as a form of punishment?

Yes and never did me any harm.

My mother used to spank me with wire hangers.

Yes. Parents and grandparents all spanked me.

It was less of a deterrent than grounding.

I don’t think of it as abuse, but I don’t think of it as terribly effective either. Maybe up until age four or so, when reasoning began to take hold and consequences became predictable.

Yes. I can remember getting a swat across my butt from my Mom, when I was little after running into the street.

My Dad never raised a hand against us.

Yes, with a belt. Hard that left welts. But I would never do it if I had a child. It’s abuse masquerading as discipline. I don’t blame or hold it against my parents but my sister NEVER spanked any of her three children and she never needed to. And she has three well adjusted kind grown college grads. Who never got beaten.

Did it ruin my life? No. Was it terrifying? Absolutely. Do I think some parents take it too far and are guilty of serious child abuse? Most definitely.

In the late 70s/early 80s principals could spank students. I doubt if that is still a thing.

Yes, very, very rarely. It wasn't the "wait for your father to get home" sort, but instantly, on the occasion of putting myself or others in danger, or disobedience in disregarding some serious warning that they had already told me not to do.

It was meant to illustrate some hard point of behavior, not mood-driven or out of anger at other things. It happened when I was very young, running out into traffic, for instance; it wasn't something I feared for years not knowing when, out of the blue, it might occur. In that sense I was never traumatized by the fear of a spanking, though I don't imagine I was pleased at the time.

How about being hit with a 2by4 across my ass in the 9th grade. My ass was black and blue in the locker room. Very embarrassing and all to frequent.

The shop teacher in my junior routed his initials **backwards** in the wooden paddle he used so that everyone knew who administered your licks when showering for gym class.

[quote]Did your parents use spanking as a form of punishment?

Yes, and more.

[quote]What are your current thoughts on spanking?

The same that they've always been: it's wrong and harmful, it does no good, and people who say it didn't affect them are usually clearly mistaken.

I've forgiven my parents. They thought they were doing good. They didn't know better. But by now everyone else should.

It seemed to disappear by the 70s in my house and my neighborhood. Except for toddlers, where it was understood to be effective for certain corrections.

Nope—it was just theatrics. My mom would pull a wooden spoon from the kitchen draw and give a mean look. For dad it was just the move to unbuckle his belt with a menace. Both methods were successful.

*drawer

I said a naughty word when I was a child and instead of washing my mouth out with soap 🧼 my mother put pepper in my mouth.

Most of us do not hit spouses, coworkers, friends, etc., when we're angry. Laying hands on adults is illegal. Why should we hit children?

It was more of a reward than a punishment.

I was the youngest of four... we were all spanked. I remember the spankings but I don't remember what I did to deserve them. Read into that what you will.

I remember feeling angry and resentful when I was being spanked. The last time I was spanked I was 5 and I tried to punch my dad back... He got angry and started spanking me again... then stopped. My mom was in the doorway holding back my 15 year old brother. My dad got quiet and sent me to bed. That's all I remember. We were never spanked again. There was no announcement or discussion. Years later my brother told me that he was holding a kitchen knife.

None of my nieces or nephews were spanked and now, in their 30s and 40s they are all happy, high-achieving (more than their parents ever were) responsible adults.

I had a wonderful close relationship with my dad. He was a remarkably kind man with a strong sense of fairness and responsibility and I miss him everyday. I doubt I would feel that way had the physical punishment continued.

I recall in primary school in the 1970s our teacher mentioned something about all parents spanking their children, and a few of my classmates said that they had never been spanked. The teacher was stunned and couldn't wrap her head around it.

My dad swatted me one time and I may never have been more shocked in my entire life. He had told me not to climb on the railing of the deck and I did, and this quiet man, who never even raised his voice, HIT ME ON THE BUTT.

I’d had no idea he had it in him. Or, really, that I could’ve fallen 15 feet or so if my plan, whatever it was, hadn’t worked out.

None of my nieces and nephews were spanked and they truly did turn out fine.

My siblings and I all needed therapy as adults. My nieces and nephews all have a confidence and sense of fearlessness in their early adulthood that none of us had. We were brought up to be scared and worry about stepping out of line. A lot of life decisions that flowed from that mindset actual held us back.

Fags are such pussies.

Yes, my brothers and I were spanked - by hand, wooden spoon and flyswatter.

Looking back, I feel my parents used this as a way to take their anger out on us at the moment. We were good kids, by the way. They raised us as their parents raised them.

I do feel children today might be more respectful if they got the occasional spanking. Just my opinion.

I was raised by my grandparents and they were religious fundies who believed that physical discipline was their duty to raise a good kid.

I was hot with belts, hands the fearsome chancleta 🩴

A swat on the ass yes. A beating no. I only had to be hit once to fear my father. From then on he just had to motion at his to get me to act right.

Threatening a child with physical abuse is still psychological abuse, especially if it followed an incident of actual physical abuse.