Why did spanking/corporal punishment fall out of favor in the West? (influence, England)
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As a parenting method I think that it's utility is minimal. I was spanked as a kid, but really can only recall maybe once? I'm sure it happened more than once but I think it was the result of overtired/overstressed parents rather than a conscientious decision of discipline.
Now, as a judicial punishment? I'd love to see caning brought back for petty theft, vandalism, etc...
Because it is violence that too often occurs when the offender is angry and not truly intent upon "teaching a lesson". The thought that anyone would want to inflict pain on another human being, let alone a child, is preposterous. It is no different than torture.
Whipping, eye for an eye biting, strapping, stress positioning. It is inhumane. Spanking a diapered baby has no good reason at all. None.
I might make an exception for the mentally ill street folks, but absolutely agree otherwise.
After a couple of warnings I believe it is justified. Many of the mentally ill attack one unsuspecting victim after another. They are simply released each time.
Even the mentally ill understand pain and how to avoid it.
Society's belief in the ability of violence to resolve conflicts and problems dropped dramatically. Probably not coincidentally after the 2nd of two massively destructive World Wars. If you abhor violence in the streets, violence between soldiers, violence to 'get what's yours' etc. then you'll abhor violence in your own family as well.
It's a double-edged sword though. You raised generations full of kids who not only have sworn off violence but have never been exposed to it first hand. That might make them very sheltered and vulnerable.
We (my Brother and Sisters) got the belt and scandal beatings by my mother and in public. She did to me like they did to her which after adult I found out it was way worse than us. We got hit by the rulers in school in elementary school and the teachers knew how and where to hit to get away with it (never in the face) but the rest of the body like legs and behind were fair game. I got hit 3 times one time (1st grade) in the legs by the ruler for chewing gum in class. I never did that to my kids and I broke the cycle.
Thank God the school changed that because I would never allow a teacher assault my son in front of the class and force my son to keep returning to that teacher for the rest of the year and be in fear of that teacher. My mind changed after being an adult. You can show a minor that they are wrong and be an adult other than kicking their a$$es and force them to fear you which in the long run isn't going to work and you are the one getting the a$$ kicking or a bullet in the head.
Is this really true or just a case of 'juvenoia'? Are the youth today really rowdier? I feel that social media has given us the ability to see the worst kids/teens/young adults when in reality they probably always existed and we just didn't see them.
From my experiences: Forty years ago it seemed as if there was that one family whose kids did no wrong, they were the exception to the rule.
After a couple of warnings I believe it is justified. Many of the mentally ill attack one unsuspecting victim after another. They are simply released each time.
Even the mentally ill understand pain and how to avoid it.
... and if they're so 'mentally ill,' why do they usually run and hide after committing a crime?
Dr. Spock is to blame. He radically changed child rearing from love and tough love to touchy-feely "be your kid's BFF" and let them run wild and dp whatever they want.
I'm from a developing country but have lived in the States, Ireland, and the UK. It seems that in the West, corporal punishment is no longer a thing (thank goodness). But I wonder why?
Over time, corporal punishment in the U.S. has come to be seen as something only the lower classes do.
In fact, when black NFL star Adrian Peterson was revealed in 2018 to hit his 4 year old son with a switch as punishment, most people didn't know what a "switch" was. Follow-up explanations labeled it as "something black people use" because the young white reporters came from upper-middle homes where corporal punishment was not used. Yet as a white working class boy in New Jersey, I was hit with a switch in the 1960's.
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