Corporal Punishment - Striking Children To Change Their Behavior

"The Pain A Person Feels Inside, Will Express Itself On The Outside."

Corporal Punishment In Schools

Both my poor parents were struck in school.
It breaks my heart to contemplate it.

Here is a vitally important question,

"What message does a child receive when they are struck?"

Now, I was spanked as a child.
Let me state very clearly :
My Parents are both good, loving people.
Maybe people won't necessarily follow other people off the edge of a cliff...
But spanking?
Humanity has a history so filled with violence, spanking seems almost...gentle by comparison.

Speaking from personal experience, I can honestly say that the only thing spanking did was :
terrify me.
make me fear my parents.
distrust adults in general.
do a fair job of screwing me up.

So, to revisit the question,
"What message does spanking send a child?"

YOU are a bad child!
YOUR actions will be severely punished!
YOU are weak! Adults can hurt you whenever they disapprove of your behavior, and there's nothing you can do about it, but do what they tell you, even if you don't agree or understand why. You are just a child, and adults will impose their beliefs on you. Like it or not. Life's tough. Didn't you get the memo?
BEHAVE! or else...

It may seem that I am quite casual about writing this.
Let me clarify : it is very painful for me to write this.
I feel sad almost all the time.
It will be nice when someday I feel like writing about joy most of the time.
That won't be until the world I live in is the peaceful, happy one I know it can be though.

It Hurts The Adult More Than The Child

More?
I don't know myself.

I agree though, it certainly does hurt both the child and the adult.

In fact, I don't doubt it is agony for the adult.

I believe human beings are naturally very gentle creatures.
Our nature is not to hurt anything.
Certainly not our children.

"How much pain must we all be in to be able to even consider hurting our children?"

This absolutely soul-draining question bears asking again :

"How much pain must we all be in, to even consider hurting our own children?"

Pain Dulls Pain

Don't you know the old trick?

Stub Your Toe, So Your Smashed Finger Doesn't Hurt So Bad.

I would propose, that most adults are in so much internal pain themselves, that causing pain to their own children just doesn't hurt in the debilitating way it would normally.

It's like drugs and alcohol.
If you're doing both, the effects of either one are not so prevalent, they just kind of merge together into one general state of numbness.

The Results of Corporal Punishment

Another direct question,

"What message does striking another person send?"

I would say something to the effect of,
"I don't like you."
,maybe even,
"I hate you."

Physical violence is the last resort in the communication with another human being.

Animals know this.

Animals fight only as a last resort.

I know.
Lions and Panthers both club their cubs with their massive paws when the cubs misbehave.
I don't know what to say about that exactly.
What I will say is that, when I've seen it on nature shows, the cubs just pick themselves up and resume playing.
When a human child is struck, the pain goes much deeper.

A person needs to ask themselves how they felt when they were struck as children.
Truly, the answer lies within a person's own heart.
As it always does.

Striking another person is something human beings do when they are pushed to the extremes of their tolerance.
I sincerely empathize with anyone who has ever been pushed to this extreme.
I'm sure your heart and soul were torn up inside.

Corporal Punishment Today

It's banned most places.
Still allowed in some parts of the world.

I personally don't think much of banning things.

I believe all human beings are naturally wonderful, beautiful and noble.

We don't need to be "forced" or "coerced" or "regulated" into doing things that are for our true benefit.

How do you determine "true benefit"?
Feelings.
Truly knowing one's feelings, and this takes time.

Time children need.
Not spankings.
Nor canings.
Nor ruler strikes.
Nor cuffs to the head.
Time. Patience. and Love.

Of course. This requires adults who feel these things in their heart.
Where are those adults?
Among the bruised and battered children of today, who NEED to ask themselves,
"What did I want as a child?"
,and,
"What do I want for my children?"