Did anyone Used to Get Smacked as a Child?

donnap83

RacyRed wrote: »

I think it is less common these days due to the fact that parents don't want to end up in prison!

To be honest, how reliable is that research? We are only just beginning to experience the long term effects of the no smacking ethos. And to be honest we seem to be bringing up a generation of kids who think they can get away with anything because current disipline methods do not teach them self control.

I was smacked when I really deserved it. It taught me about limits I should think carefully about crossing, not to fear violent attacks from my family.

As with anything, if smacking is used properly then it isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Exactly!

I only got smacked when I was REALLY naughty.

My OH said his mum used to whack him with a wooden spoon when he was bad. And, boy, was he bad. But growing up in NI, he sometimes mixed with the wrong kids. Got caught up the riots etc in the 80's.

It never did him any harm though. He knows his mum did it cos she loved him.

Aimless

I think sometimes a smack can be effective with a small child who doesn't understand danger. If for example they keep trying to stick fingers in plugs/poke the dog in the eye/play with the fire/cooker etc, a smack can lead them to associate that item with pain, and save them from a worse pain. I know someone whose child ended up climbing across a cooker top when it was on! :eek: A sharp slap when they went near it would've saved them a lot worse pain. Of course, keeping them out of the kitchen would've been better.

margaretclare

Not that I can ever remember, no, but then, it's a very very VERY long time ago.

The worst thing, that I do remember, was when my grandad threatened to take his belt off. He never used it, but just the threat was enough.

caledonian_princess

I got the occasional tapped paw when I was too young to be reasoned with, I don't remember this. Once I was old enough to understand my Mum sat me down and explained how and why I'd done wrong, many is the time that I wished that I'd been given a tanned a--e and allowed back outside to play like all my playmates.

NAR

nicolax wrote: »

just remember dad saying "im counting to three ....1 ...2..." then i knew i was in trouble - he never got to three, id always stopped what i was doing before then!

I was a bad counter - I always got hit!! :rotfl:

VfM4meplse

Plenty! Occasionally, I got the hoover too (Mum). My pathetic 6' coward of a father would hold my hands together with one hand and smack me around the head really hard with the other.

donnap83

NAR wrote: »

I was a bad counter - I always got hit!! :rotfl:

Ditto :rotfl:

tiamai_d

Tropez wrote: »

But parents won't end up in prison if they smack their child, only if the force they use is excessive.

As for how reliable the research is, well there will always be detractors, but there is plenty of research on the effects of smacking and the conclusions are the same. The vast majority of serious, violent offenders, including serial killers, were subjected to physical violence as a child, just as an alarming numbers of sex offenders were subjected to sexual abuse as a child.

As for teenagers - they've always believed they can do what they want. People can talk about chavs and teenage crime but it has always existed - mods and rockers in the 60s, punks and pretty much everyone in the 70s etc. Teenagers committing violent crimes is not a new thing, the only real change is that we have a sophisticated communications network that allows information about crimes to be proliferated worldwide in a matter of minutes. The recent riots in London are hardly new - what about Broadwater Farm and the murder of Keith Blakelock back in the 80s when smacking was still widely perceived as acceptable? What about the LA Riots in 1992?

Nothing has changed except the way the media is able to pounce upon incidents and present it to the world with much greater effect.

But also the vast majority of people who were subjected to physical violence as a child do not go out and commit crimes. Also it could be argued that since most people were smacked in those days then there is no real link between them.

I'm neither for nor against smacking, it works for some and not for others.

Tropez

nicolax wrote: »

having looked critically at studies there are often so many other factors which produce these results.

from what ive read, the cases where smacking was purely short term was when children were just smacked, but were not told/did not know what they were being smacked for. the smacking does give a short term stop to behaviour but it is the explanation that goes with it (what they did wrong, and why it is wrong to do this) that brings about long term changes in behaviour.
same as how supernanny always tells parents to explain why the child is being placed on the 'naughty step' and not merely place them on there with no explanation. children sometimes dont know what theyre doing is wrong

i remember from being a kid that just the threat of one would be enough to stop me! just remember dad saying "im counting to three ....1 ...2..." then i knew i was in trouble - he never got to three, id always stopped what i was doing before then!

From the countless studies we were made to review during criminology, I would disagree. In many cases, the child on the receiving end knew exactly why they were being smacked and in doing so they were being taught that when someone does something you don't like, you can hit them, or worse.

I was never smacked, my parents didn't believe in it. What they did believe in was revoking my freedoms when I was bad. Being quite handy with electrics, it wasn't a problem for my dad to remove the plug from my PC or my TV/VCR when I was naughty or force me to do some mindnumbingly boring chore with my mum. I remember the first time I used the F-word in the house - my punishment was to spend my entire Saturday cleaning, doing laundry, bathing the dog (a real flipping chore!), hanging the laundry out etc. before I got the plug put back on my TV to watch whatever it was I was so desperate to watch that night - if I hadn't done it, I'd have had my TV cut off for a month and of course, my father explained to me why it is inappropriate to use the F-word around members of my family, teachers, important people etc. but he knew full well I'd use it around friends.

It was a very effective punishment having all of my freedoms and luxuries taken away until I had made amends.

ceegee

Yes! I was also smacked by my teacher at school when I was 10. I ran home to my Mum and said "Miss Partridge smacked me". My Mum replied "I expect you deserved it".

Ah well. That was in 1966, mind.