In Reply to: Re: you made my point posted by susie on October 17, 2006 at 19:28:37:
Susie, I agree with you and with damaged on this subject, too. I think that FG exers are pretty split on this subject.
My daughter in law believes in corporal punishment. I do not. Her mother believes in it.
I used to believe in it. However, what I see of corporal punishment that they use does not bother me in the same way that corporal punishment as doled out in the Family does.
I am glad that society is changing to limit it.
I understand that some are resistant to laws limiting their parenting. The reason the law hasn't progressed more in my part of the world is probably because of legislators who experienced corporal punishment which they did not like when getting it but which did not scar their psyche and which they attribute to shaping their character in a positive way.
I just figure that if there is something that works better than physically striking someone and studies have been done on it and society is changing, though slowly, because of it, which would be better?
I watch a movie like "Captains Courageous" and see where in a survival setting a spoiled little rich kid gets slapped by the fishing boat captain and though he is just a kid, he gets a real reality check.
Then I notice what is much much more effective to him is when he sets up the rival fisherman to get hooked, his mentor and a father figure to him on the boat, Manuel, is very hurt by the child's behavior and is ashamed of him and lets him know it.
That kind of teaching to a child is so much more effective in building character.
What made the kid a brat to begin with? It wasn't that his parents did or did not believe in corporal punishment, it was that his father was always away on business and substituted personal time with his child with boarding schools, money and things.
Did that kid even have a mother? I don't remember but I don't think so. I think about the most severe damage done in the family was in separating and preventing normal healthy bonds from developing between biological family members.