| I realize that this is an outlier.... But I was raised in an aboriginal type environment (and my children's early experience was in a similar environment by risk) when a single episode of unruly behavior could result in serious injury or death. In this environment, spanking was used as a proxy for these irrevocable natural consequences, to give teeth to (an often invisible to a child) danger without letting iit bite. I'm pretty sure that the use of (comparatively insignificant) physical punishment prevented serios injuries or death multiple times. As a child gets to 4 or 5 years old and have had time to see obvious mortal dangers avoided and the counsel of their parents validated (backed up by the minimum necessary force and ample explanation and demonstration if possible), it is rare (in my experience of child raising) that a child won't heed the counsel that they have seen proven true time and again. As a species, we've survived eons of dangerous environments, and it wasn't due only to watchful parents.... Children are no fools once they get get to 5 or 6 years of age and can navigate dangerous environments with skill. OTOH, when almost all of the corporal punishment I have seen doled out in public has been reactive, not well considered, and not accompanied by proper counsel, as well as with children far too old to still need that kind of correction.... So IMO it is often misused. |