# Oh how the times are changing. Corporal punishment. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693 "2014-09-16T23:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/101 "2014-09-23T06:39:29Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > There is always hope…otherwise why does ANYONE post to any topic on this board?:dubious: Well, perzactly … I guess.🆒 Yeah, but I have seen it in science threads or car threads, “I learned something.” will sometimes be seen. A thread like this? Not so much… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![owlfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@owlfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlfan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/102 "2014-09-23T09:50:36Z")
I am curious. If you spank your kids, are you the only one that is allowed to do so? Is it okay for teachers, baby-sitters, friends or neighbors to spank your kids? We never spanked either of our daughters and they turned out fine. 🙂 I recall that they were well supervised around hot stoves etc. until they were old enough to understand the danger. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/103 "2014-09-23T12:15:05Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I wouldn’t spank my wife because she knows better than to do risky potentially fatal things, there would be no point in spanking her because it isn’t needed. I don’t spank for disagreement or disobedience. > > But after days of talking, instructing, cajoling, etc and I wake up and go pee and my wife is in the kitchen making coffee and I come back to the bedroom to find my two year old has ignored everything and leap up and moved a dresser, piece of plywood, removed bungee cords and opened a bay window and is leaning out of it trying to grab a tree branch with a 40 foot drop. > > Yea that is spanking time. I’m confused, aren’t you giving a spanking for willfully disobeying your instructions to (I assume) not climb out the window? Not sure how that jives with your claim that you don’t spank for disagreement or disobedience. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/104 "2014-09-23T16:06:22Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > A thread like this? Not so much… 😃 Yeah, threads like this are impossible. People will not have a nuanced discussion. The nice thing is that after another dozen pages of the same points being repeated again and again, the font size will increase, words will become underlined in **bold** and red. In the meantime, what do you think about babies and restaurants? On airplanes? Changing diapers on airplanes during the meal service while the baby is crying? Babies at night: Let them cry it out? Good for the babies or evil? Breast feeding or formula? Working mothers or stay at home? I’ll bring the popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/105 "2014-09-23T16:52:12Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Yeah, threads like this are impossible. People will not have a nuanced discussion. Yeah, but I don’t think we should avoid blame here. It’s not the people who spank who get all righteously indignant and start spoiling for fights. How exactly can you have a conversation about the subject with someone who thinks you must be a horrible person if you spank? Or if they throw out hostility towards you every time you try to explain yourself? At least the first 4 replies were decent. Probably a record. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/106 "2014-09-23T17:04:53Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I’m confused, aren’t you giving a spanking for willfully disobeying your instructions to (I assume) not climb out the window? Not sure how that jives with your claim that you don’t spank for disagreement or disobedience. No, like he already said, the kid is getting spanked for doing something unsafe that could cause him harm. Multiple posts in this thread consist of you being disingenuous. If you actually want to try and have a conversation, actually stop and read what’s been said. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/107 "2014-09-23T17:38:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > No, like he already said, the kid is getting spanked for doing something unsafe that could cause him harm. > > Multiple posts in this thread consist of you being disingenuous. If you actually want to try and have a conversation, actually stop and read what’s been said. MULTIPLE posts? I’m not sure I agree with your characterization of this ONE post as being disingenuous. I surely do not see how any of my other posts are. Perhaps you’d like to point them out? I’ve not strayed from my opinion that children should not be struck, whether a light smack on the rear, a spanking, a switch, or anything else. It astounds me the length that people will go to justify hitting a small, defenseless child. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693/108 "2014-09-23T19:38:41Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Yeah, but I don’t think we should avoid blame here. It’s not the people who spank who get all righteously indignant and start spoiling for fights. How exactly can you have a conversation about the subject with someone who thinks you must be a horrible person if you spank? Or if they throw out hostility towards you every time you try to explain yourself? The dissonance in this post is astounding. That said, your premise fails. My father spanked me, even hit me with a belt a couple of times. I don’t think he was a “horrible person”, but at the same time I don’t think spanking or belting me was particularly effective in changing any of my behavior. My dad hit me because his dad hit him, he used the tools he knew. I was also the first child to young parents, so my dad had less life experience to draw from. I’m trying the “not hitting my kid” method, and so far it’s working for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-how-the-times-are-changing-corporal-punishment/698693.md?page=5)