Should there be a federal ban on corporal punishment? / LJWorld.com

Asked at Hy-Vee, 4000 W. Sixth St. on April 21, 2010

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“No, that is a local and family issue.”

— Sharon Harriman, housewife, Lawrence

“Yes … it’s not good for kids, they grow up doing the same thing to others.”

— Adrian Marquez, carpenter, Chihuahua, Mexico

“No … I believe that is the parent’s job to basically discipline their children the way they want to.”

— Tim Orr, painting contractor, Lawrence

“No, it should be handled from state to state, not federal government.”

— Liz Friedrichsen, stay-at-home mom, Lawrence

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independant1 3 years, 12 months ago

Here, here

slappedyomomma 3 years, 12 months ago

the best parenting advice i have ever seen.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=beat

Agnostick 3 years, 12 months ago

Federal ban? What we need is a federal requirement!

Every member of Congress, Senate and House, should be taken out into street once a month, and be given the ol' "forty-one minus one!"

I learned my lesson about messing with other people's kids. One time I was in Walmart and this little kid comes running towards me down the aisle, and then I see this kid's mom come running around the corner behind him yelling for the kid to stop. So I stuck out my foot and the kid trips and slides like 15 feet across the floor. At this point, I'm thinking I did the lady a favor. But no, she comes running up to me and strikes me in the side of the head with a closed fist. I stumbed and fell over and when I turned to look up, this lady pepper sprayed me all over the face. Absolutely uncalled for. So, yeah, I think as long as the government doesn't allow unruly kids to be sent to prison, they should at least allow us to punish them corporally so that they learn to be more obedient.

whats_going_on 3 years, 12 months ago

I saw a lady in a parking lot once whose small child kept running around. While it was her fault probably for not teaching the child this is dangerous...kids will be kids, and he wasn't listening to her to stay next to her. Finally, after an out of control car comes whizzing by and the kid almost becomes road kill, she grabbed his arm to pull him away from the cars and firmly told him to behave. Another lady, also witnessing this, comes up and threatens to turn the lady in to child protective services. It pissed me off...I wanted to smack THAT lady...what a nosy b*tch, especially in the circumstances. If that mom hadn't had been firm, after being "nice" for long enough, who knows what could have happened.

timetospeakup 3 years, 12 months ago

I think there should be a federal mandate!

independant1 3 years, 12 months ago

Fed ban? We don't need a law for every good idea. If this was a good idea.

I coulda used a couple more spankings when I was young. I might've ended up just a little smarter/wiser for it.

gccs14r 3 years, 12 months ago

Katara has it right. The proposed federal ban is for the schools, which should not be engaged in ritual institutional beatings of children.

Regarding parental discipline, I've seen a well-placed open-handed swat on the butt get the attention of an out-of-control kid who wasn't responding to words. Regular application of spankings is detrimental, though. If you can't count the number of times you've swatted your kid, you need to re-examine what you're doing as a parent.

Katara 3 years, 12 months ago

I don't think this poll question is referring to family discipline. There was an article yesterday or the day before about a Texas town okaying corporal punishment for the schools to use.

I'm fine with disciplining your child as you see fit. I am not fine with the schools doing it. You tell me what my child did and I will determine any additional punishment. Schools should stick to detention, suspension & expulsions.

ozzynbn 3 years, 12 months ago

Verbal abuse to a child will last much longer than a swat on the butt.

LoveThsLife 3 years, 12 months ago

No, most states already have bans on it. Those schools that do use it do so sparingly (from what I understand). I don't think corporal punishment is a huge problem...our government needs to focus on more important things.

gogoplata 3 years, 12 months ago

Can we get a federal ban on federal bans.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

Charles Bukowski got beaten with a razor strop 3-4 times/week. Beach Boy Wilson brothers got it with a 2x4. One time Murry hit Brian in the head so hard he permanently lost the hearing in his right ear. I guess that explains "Smile". Seems a little extreme to me.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

DRsmith, I loved you on "Lost in Space". Dig the sarcasm, too.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

This is definitely a question for the Merc. "I ask my son to please go to his room and listen to the wisdom of Simon and Garfunkel." -Phil McKreviss, holistic healer, Berkley, CA

Deja Coffin 3 years, 12 months ago

I don't spank because my children respond just as well to a time out but I do think that there may be children that might need a spanking. I think that a lot of the problem with spanking is that a parent might just tell their kid no and smack them on the bottom and think that solves the issue. I once saw a mother smack her kid and say, "No hitting!" After a time out I have my girls tell me what they did wrong, why it was bad, and then I give them a hug and thank them for serving their time out. It works wonders for my 2 year old and 5 year old but I have no clue what I'm going to do once they outgrow them or it doesn't phase them. In my opinion there's a fine line with spanking and I don't think the government should say what is best for the individual.

DRsmith 3 years, 12 months ago

Yeah, we should go ahead and ban it. Because Lord knows kids these days are much better than generations past. (sarcasm) A good butt whoopin never hurt anyone and it certainly kept me in line. Fear of the swat was much more effective then any kind of grounding I had coming.

denak 3 years, 12 months ago

I don't agree with a federal ban. I think it should be left up to the state to decide whether or not to ban spanking.

However, I just read a week ago that the American Pediatrics Association came out staunchly against spanking and showing that spanking is more detrimental to the child than any other form of punishment and that it has serious ramifications on a child's developement. My personal opinion is that the overwhelming majoirty of time parents spank out of a sense of frustration or embarassment and not because the child is acting in a manner that warrants it. It is the parent that needs a "time-out" not the child.

And lastly, I think the reason parents spank is because they can get away with it.. A four year old can not defend himself. If that child had the ability to hit his parent back with the same force that he is hit with, some parents might think twice but because he can't, the parent doesn't think twice about inflicting pain onto a child that has only been alive for a few years.

Dena

CWGOKU 3 years, 12 months ago

Wow, for once liberal Grammaddy did not jump on the federal band wagon. Way to go, I agree with you today.
Adrian has one heck of a commute every day to get to work as a carpenter. I wish my kids would quit beating ME!

paisley 3 years, 12 months ago

No ban please. I will say however, make the punishment fit the crime. Be fair. Spanking to get a kid's attention is no big deal. I've seen mom's and dad's pull a kid by the arm and it seemed far worse.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

I saw a kid get his hand caught in one of those people movers at the airport. Pretty amusing.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

No Wire Hangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

prospector 3 years, 12 months ago

Beatem till they bleed!

Some snot nose tweens need to be throttled. I heard the ugliest story about what a 13 YO boy said to an 11 YO girl on a bus. It would make a sailor blush..

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

I think we should follow Ryan O'Neals example. When 10yo Tatum O'Neal won an Oscar for "Paper Moon" he punched her in the mouth. Jealous, I guess. When she was a teen and started gaining weight he told her to start doing coke, which he had bowls of all over the house. A few years later he knocked his son's front teeth out. Oh, Marlon Brando was a good father, too.

gogoplata 3 years, 12 months ago

This is stupid. Less government intusion not more.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

My dad always shoved my nose in dog poop.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

I'm glad some of you made the Duver connection. Most people I know either loved him or hated him. I was not a jock. And yes, he loved jocks. But what I found in my experience is that all he expected you to do wasTRY. He liked me because I tried. The last time I saw him was at McDonald's on 6th St. I was in college then. He had just visited his wife in the hospital. I sat and had lunch with him. Great memory.

Flap Doodle 3 years, 12 months ago

Mistress Ilsa charges $175 an hour for spankings. You can get $5 off if you bring your own paddle.

whats_going_on 3 years, 12 months ago

No, I do not agree with this. However, I think for actual child abuse, obviously there should be consequences. Drawing the line is hard, especially in a society where spanking your kid is automatically labeled as abuse and people feel the need to stick their noses in other personal, family business, even if a spank if obviously a spank and not a hit.

consumer1 3 years, 12 months ago

Auti, Py, O'Bob(s) snap, there is a serious need for Humor on the Ripe Mark Twain. BLog. I think it involves yer cuzzin's. Con1

lawrenceguy40 3 years, 12 months ago

barry o wants to CONTROL every aspect of YOUR life.

In europe, these policies have led to a society where parents are punished for a protective slap to get the child's attention, but child rapists are given housing, money and protection from prosecution because of their "illness".

197

autie 3 years, 12 months ago

spacehog, did you usually get picked last or next to last for whatever team event being played in gym class? Did this Duver guy do jock checks regularly?

Pywacket 3 years, 12 months ago

No--because most parents know the difference between a well-deserved whack on the rump and child abuse. Do a better job of enforcing the laws already on the books!!!!!

Raise your hand if you are routinely sickened by reading of the death of a young child at the hands of (mom, dad, stepparent, boyfriend...) following several cases of the child being temporarily removed from the household and then returned. Or following several incidents of teachers, friends' parents, neighbors, other relatives reporting the "family" after seeing bruises, burns, cuts, etc., on the child and an idiot social worker leaving the child there, deciding that nothing is amiss!!!

Toughen up the abuse laws that we already have and seriously enforce those laws.

edjayhawk 3 years, 12 months ago

Duver was the biggest bully and coward ever. I once witnessed him beat the crap out of a student in the hallway where he thought no one was looking. I've heard that his abusive style was a reaction from being actually afraid of the students.

autie 3 years, 12 months ago

Who is sitting in the bull's eye today?

georgiahawk 3 years, 12 months ago

Corporals should only be punished when they can't find someone lower in rank to blame.

The_Original_Bob 3 years, 12 months ago

First they came after your cigs. Then your trans fats. Then your salt. Soon it will be how to raise your child.

Flap Doodle 3 years, 12 months ago

Children should be spanked only if it helps bring about the dictatorship of the proletariat.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 3 years, 12 months ago

Spanking is such a primitive method.

It should be replaced by tasing, and in extreme cases, a little light waterboarding.

Like spanking, these punishments won't help the kids any, but it sure will provide temporary relief for frustrated adults.

jafs 3 years, 12 months ago

Capital punishment in families would certainly be illegal.

consumer1 3 years, 12 months ago

Spacehog, I had Nanny Duver in Jr. High. I was making straight A's. He asked me out to play football, and when I didn't go out, I got straight F's from then on. He was a piece of work for sure. Of course now I wish I would have... I coulda been a contender, I coulda been sumbuddy! spoken like Marlen Brando of course. To answer the question, no capital punishment in the families should not be the state or national gov't business. Of course we already have laws that deal with abuse. This sounds like something the welfare office would think up in order to ensure their existence. More law's equal's more kid's in their custody.

Bob Kraxner 3 years, 12 months ago

Who in the hell comes up with these idiotic questions anyway? ? Here's a good one... Should restaurant patrons be surcharged for the air they breathe while in an eating establishment ?

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

Just one more Nanny Duver story: When Coach Duver got wind of an upcoming after-school fight between 2 kids, he would tell them to come to the gym after school. He would give them both a pair of boxing gloves and let them slug it out. No knives, no friends jumping in, no kicking in the face with steel toed boots, just an old fashioned supervised punch 'em up.

jafs 3 years, 12 months ago

Wow.

If an adult hits another adult (a fairly equal contest) it is illegal.

Why is it ok for an adult to hit a child (a completely unequal contest)?

Flap Doodle 3 years, 12 months ago

Corporal Punishment, Major Disaster, General Confusion.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

Nanny Duver had an assortment of paddles in his office. He wasn't using them any more by the late 70's, but he was pretty intimidating. I remember one time this skinny kid(like me) was bragging in gym class about trying out for the basketball team. Coach D said "Lad, with those skinny arms I'd be surprised if you could get the ball to the basket." A couple days later his sissy psychologist stepdad came down to the school and told Coach he shouldn't talk to his sensitive boy like that. Incidentally, I had a beef with this same kid. Before I got a chance to tune him up, his sissy dad came to our house and told my folks we had to be friends "for the sake of humanity". The begging of the end.

ralphralph 3 years, 12 months ago

There should be a Federal Ban on Federal Bans.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

I think there should be corporal punishment on federal bans. Some other fallacies that didn't exist before 1990: -Tough Love: The big oxymoron. Sure, disown and turn your back on your alcoholic, drug-addicted loved one. Just be sure you have no regrets when they die alone. -Codepency: Wha? -ADHD: Weren't we all hyperactive kids with short attention spans? Man, I don't know how I survived without ritalin....... -Enablers: I don't need help scoring my dope. -Rehab/Treatment: 85% failure rate, as told to me by a counselor at DCCCA. -All of the other new "diseases" that are making the pharmaceutical companies fat and rich.

igby 3 years, 12 months ago

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

M. Lindeman 3 years, 12 months ago

I think corporal punishment should be brought back to the schools. Discipline in our schools for a lack of a better word, SUCKS. It should only be carried out by the Principal and/or the vice principal, teachers should not be allowed to. That way it is over seen correctly. I can not recall a time I was paddled at school that I didn't have it coming.

spacehog 3 years, 12 months ago

Damn right, grammaddy. Nothing beats a good old fashioned spanking. These touchy feely creepy people who came up with "time-outs" are the same people with spoiled brat kids that end up thinking they can do whatever the hell they want. Stay the hell out of our houses and the way we discipline our kids. I don't have kids but I know what it's like to be one. Occasionally and deservedly, I got the belt when I was a kid. My dad barely tapped me with it, but the sight of it scared me straight. Anybody who had Nanny Duver for a coach/gym teacher knew the value of discipline. My elementary school Principal, the late George Lloyd, was a gem. He would give us bear hugs and encourage us to follow our dreams. He also oversaw the lunchroom, and if a kid got out of line he would give them a good shaking. Today he would be behind bars for pedophilia and child abuse. You people make me sick. And you know who you are.

autie 3 years, 12 months ago

spare the rod, spoil the child. I think they should bring back the stocks and sell tickets to public caneings..

grammaddy 3 years, 12 months ago

The government needs to keep it's nose out of how I discipline my kids/grandkids. If they need a spanking, I will give them one. That "time-out" crap isn't always as effective as a good swat on the butt.And don't give me that"it only teaches kids to hit" crap either. I've got a 3 year-old grandson who has never been spanked and he hits more than any kid I've ever seen.All kids are different and must be treated as such. What works for one may not work for the next.

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