Re: Parenting & Discipline
Reply #26 –
We have never hit our children and I'm from an era being 50+ that was all about getting strapped at school and a whack on the backside or the odd slap if I fell out of line at home. Getting whacked by my parents only made me resentful and I swore I would be a better parent and never do it.
I prefer the stern words and lecture approach...no place for violence although I believe in teaching my children to look after themselves especially with bullying.
I do make an exception with bullies and believe there is sometimes no other way....my young son on his first day of school was knocked around by a bigger kid and had his cap stolen...the kid had an issue with my eldest daughter and decided to take the easy route and pick on her younger brother. His bigger sister however was doing martial arts at the time and was fairly accomplished for her age and took matters into her own hands unknown to me....she asked the bully boy for the cap back and when he said make me she broke his nose with a well delivered palm strike by all reports.
Bully boy was carted off to sick bay with a bloodied snout and yours truly was rung at work to take home my so called violent daughter.....I was told she was suspended for 2 days and needed disciplining.
On hearing the real story from my daughter, son and onlookers I marched up to the school and paid out on the principal, praised my daughter in front of him(rightly or wrongly) and suggested he provide a safe environment for my children to learn in.....later that night I told my daughter not to do it again but said I understood her motives and that she needed to seek mum and dads advice before doing similar again.
Bully boy never bothered my children again and a good clip on the snout worked wonders in his case.....sadly though it turns out that bully boy was a foster child and his home life had been violent and he had been hit as a child and this was the only form of discipline he knew.
I tend to agree with Baggers on that basis that discipline in the form of physical punishment is all wrong and only breeds more violence and can shape children in the wrong way....
awesome story, I say well done to your daughter...as per main line in Kenny Rogers famous song (i think thats his name?) 'sometimes you have to fight when your a man' or in this case a women