To smack or not to smack.... (How to Discipline Children)

Member Name: Biffa

Product:	How to Discipline Children
Date:	09/09/00 (19 review reads)
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I'm a mother of two wonderful little girls, aged 4 months and 18 months, and I'm ashamed to admit that I have smacked my 18 month old daughter - but only when she has been endangering herself.

As a toddler, she's at that age where she wants to explore everything and test out the boundaries to what she can and can't do. So as a parent, what do I do about it?

When she's climbing on top of a glass table, do I smack her and hope that she associates climbing on a glass table with a smack, or do I wait for her to fall through the glass, cutting herself to ribbons and then say "You see, I told you not to climb on the table!". I'm sorry, but for all the tea in china I wouldn;t hurt either of my children, but I won;t let them hurt themselves either. In my eyes, getting a smack on the bottom (with a nappy on) is far better than being rushed to hospital to have millions of stitches. At this point you're all probably wondering why I've still got a glass table when I've got babies - but that's another issue.

When she decides to start hitting the glass on the oven door when it's switched on, what should I do? Wait for her to stick to the door and have her rushed to the burns unit, or give her a smack? Again, I'd rather give her a smack.

Being a parent is very hard work, especially when they start toddling around and gaining more and more independance. I don't go round smacking her for the sake of it - if I'm wound up to the point where I feel I'll smack her for no reason (other than the fact that she's 18 months old and driving me insane) then I'll leave the room to calm down or scream abuse at the bathroom wall.

Having said that, she knows that if Daddy gives her a smack, then she's done something very wrong - like climbing and standing on top of the fireguard while the fire is on.

I want both of my children to grow up to be polite, wellma
nnered and respectful of other people and their belongings. I don;t know if smacking is the way to achieve this or not, but unfortunately you don;t get a baby manual when you have babies (oh how life would be easier if you did)

People have their own way of dealing with situations, and while I don't condone physical abuse of children, I do think that children need to be disciplined. It's not as if she's at the age where I can say "If you don't stop that, you can;t watch teletubbies for a week" because she wouldn;t associate it with whatever it is that she's done wrong.

Hopefully as she grows older, the need for smacking in dangerous situations will decrease, and she'll be a well-adjusted child. She's already very polite, considerate, loving and well mannered, so I must be doing something right. I certainly don;t want to have a disrespectful rude arrogant child on my hands by the time she hits the teenage years.

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