Spanking

I think I earned a few miffed comments and judgmental raised eyebrows when I said, about a wailing, temper-tantrum-throwing child, that I'd spank him if he were my child.

And I would. Of course, if this particular child were mine, he wouldn't have been horse-whipped by his grandparents, called "bastard" and "retard" by his father, and he wouldn't have watched his dad push his mom out of a car speeding down the highway. For a child like this, I understand spanking is entirely inappropriate. I understand why his mom disciplines (or doesn't) the way she does. I don't think her permissiveness is doing the child any favors, though. Because of her attitude as well as her abusive husband's, he'll grow up not only to beat the hell out of his girlfriends, but he also won't have any respect for any authority figures. What could the police and the legal system do that's any worse than what he's experienced in his life?

But my (theoretical) children will not experience this kind of pain camouflaged by love. They will, as I did, understand that disobedience has consequences, and if it continues past verbal warnings and unsuccessful time-outs, the next consequence is a spanking. Not once in my sassy, asshole childhood did I ever confuse violence and love. I knew exactly why I was getting spanked. I knew it was something I brought upon myself because of my behavior. Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. And if the kids get Tim's genes, boy howdy will we have some genius kids.

Of course I want to be a loving parent with consistent discipline, so that situations never reach the spanking point. But if they do, I will.

I know it's an extraordinarily controversial opinion. But it's one I've thought quite a bit about.