pets vs. children

[Ned Flanders]

by witch king
What about spanking your dog?

at least its' not a pet monkey.

by nael
political correctness is the downfall of society

thank goodness I'm not alone on this one.

Personally, I'd have say that some good beatings as a kid kept in line. My parents weren't malicious nor they did dislike me, however, a little force goes a long way and for many years. My parents never hit/spank/beat/belted/clubbed/knifed/shot me that much but the fact that they had and the fact that they could usually kept me in line.

Today, I'd label my mother and father as two of the very best friends I have. It's a pity I spent my adolescence not hanging out with them believing they didn't understand me when the lack of understanding came from within myself, as is true with lots of teens.

[Curdis]

@Ned, It is always a shame when kids don't come to terms with their parents. I didn't reconcile with mine till quite recently. The whole hormone thing makes it so much harder as a teenager though.

As to discipline [generalisations]: With both humans and animals it is consistency that counts. We all seem to like set routines and to have boundaries which are clearly laid out. Sound discipline always corrects abherent behavior and rewards correct behaviour. If the correction is via a choker chain, a smack, a spray bottle of water or a stern repremand (or something else), depends on the offence and/or species, but most importantly on the individual. My Rottie 'Sasha' responds very poorly to correction - i.e. it really isn't worth correcting abherent behavior. This is probably due to her being randomly mistreated as a puppy, young dog (she is a rescue). Rewarding correct behaviour, however, is very quickly sucessful. As a result, I will probably be able to train her to ride a skateboard standing on her head before I can get her to stay off the garden .

It is the parental reaction smacking (beating) which should be discouraged because this is not consistent and really is not about discipline (of the child, rather the lack of discipline of the parent). It is an unfortunate circumstance but a lot of people in the developed world are far too focused on their jobs and social lives to pay sufficent attention to their children. When someone says their child has been diagnosed ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) I usually filter this to mean that it is the parent who is not giving sufficient attention to the child.

Disclaimer: I am not a parent. My conclusions are based on my observations of others. I realize that this makes my advice less useful, as a friend of mine once said 'The day that you reach over to throtle the life out of your child and you don't, that is the day you are actually a parent' . - Curdis !

[Sailor Saturn]

Originally posted by Curdis
@Ned, It is always a shame when kids don't come to terms with their parents. I didn't reconcile with mine till quite recently. The whole hormone thing makes it so much harder as a teenager though.

As to discipline [generalisations]: With both humans and animals it is consistency that counts. We all seem to like set routines and to have boundaries which are clearly laid out. Sound discipline always corrects abherent behavior and rewards correct behaviour. If the correction is via a choker chain, a smack, a spray bottle of water or a stern repremand (or something else), depends on the offence and/or species, but most importantly on the individual. My Rottie 'Sasha' responds very poorly to correction - i.e. it really isn't worth correcting abherent behavior. This is probably due to her being randomly mistreated as a puppy, young dog (she is a rescue). Rewarding correct behaviour, however, is very quickly sucessful. As a result, I will probably be able to train her to ride a skateboard standing on her head before I can get her to stay off the garden .

It is the parental reaction smacking (beating) which should be discouraged because this is not consistent and really is not about discipline (of the child, rather the lack of discipline of the parent). It is an unfortunate circumstance but a lot of people in the developed world are far too focused on their jobs and social lives to pay sufficent attention to their children. When someone says their child has been diagnosed ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) I usually filter this to mean that it is the parent who is not giving sufficient attention to the child.

Disclaimer: I am not a parent. My conclusions are based on my observations of others. I realize that this makes my advice less useful, as a friend of mine once said 'The day that you reach over to throtle the life out of your child and you don't, that is the day you are actually a parent' . - Curdis !

I agree with Curdis about discipline. Spankings, groundings, etc, from my 'rents never did anything to make me behave. Neither did punishments from teachers when I misbehaved in school. Heck, one teacher tried to slap me and I bit her.

[Aragorn Returns]

i'm no parent, but i have read several books on raising/discipling children (i know, i'm a loser). I also am a child. well, i completely disagree with beating etc. to chilren. i also have some thoughts on discipline but that's not what this thread is about, so i'm not going to spam it. I'd just like to make the same point i did earlier about animals, i said that all animals are different. I'd like to say that all children/infants are different, different forms of discipline are better for different children, that's one reason why very rarely can you actually get help from one of those child discpline/raising books.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

@Curdis- I have ADD. All it means in my case is that I can't concentrate as well as most people unless I take medication for it. My parents gave me ample attention as a child. Furthermore I...sorry, got a little distracted there for a moment...Where are those pills...

I know that when I was a child I was a little terror. The first word I ever learnt (and this should say a lot about me as a child) was "No". All that being smacked did for me was teach me that most valuable of life's lessons-Don't Get Caught. Just telling me why something was wrong worked much better.

BTW, I agree that political correctness is a big fat load of bull****. It attempts to dictate morals, which is never a good thing.