Re: Child Discipline & Cultural Controversies

["C S Harris" <cocheta@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 06:12 PM 1/12/99 -0500, Murray A. Straus wrote:
>Jim
Hord's requirement of having to have been a parent to do research
on
>spanking and other culturally acceptable forms of corporal
punishment (CP)
>such as slapping a child's hand,  suggests to me
that he finds CP
>acceptable.   I make this inference because one
can count on at least two
>thirds of parents believing that spanking
is sometimes necessary.
>
>The requirement of having been a
parent,  would rule out some of the
>pioneers in child development
who were retiring at the time I joined the
>Human Development and
Family Relations department at Cornell who were not
>married,  much
less have children.    It would also rule out my research
on
>homicide because I have never murdered
anyone.
>
>There are deep value commitments tied in with
spanking  so I think it is
>important for those who write to this
list to make their views clear,  as I
>have done in many papers and
on this list.


Hello,

I don't post here much, but find
the need to comment on this subject.  I did raise a child; was a single
parent from the time he was age 11-18.  Until he was 16, I raised him in a
fundamentalist religion which did encourage (almost required, via peer
pressure) spanking.  In addition my son has Asperger's.  When he was
around 4, I made the decision to quit spanking.  The main reason was that
those who promote this practice frequently spout 'as long as it's not done
in anger' it's a good parenting practice.  In my experience, I realized I
could not hit another creature without some measure of anger.  It
seemed rather hypocritical, to me, to use this method, excuse myself with
the 'not in anger' rhetoric, then hit my son.  I could not do it with
no anger.  Besides, he had no real concept of cause and consequence
and it did not good.  It was just a power struggle, with me the winner
because I was bigger. It taught him nothing.

I know this is
anecdotal.  Does anyone know of research that explores the idea of
justifying spanking as long as it's done 'without anger'?

Thank
you,

Cathy S. Harris
MSW program
School of Social Work,
University of Iowa