The spanking
Should you spank your kids when they try every nasty trick in the book to see if they can get your goat? Educationists are debating this issue and many of them think it should be possible to raise a youngster without resorting to physical force.Their argument is that if you whale your kids they’ll whale their kids and so on, ad infinitum.
With all due respect, I wish to state there are occasions where a slap is indicated.
As evidence, I present a story my mother used to tell.
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One time when my oldest brother was about six months of age my parents were trying to get him to settle down for the night. Sometimes he bellowed and sometimes he screamed but he was not interested in sleep or even being rocked. It had been a long hard day. My father had been wrestling saw logs and my mother had been feeding the neighbors who had brought the saw to cut a winter’s supply of stove wood.
Finally, as the yelling continued, my exasperated father declared:”That sounds to me like temper. His diaper is dry, he’s been fed.”
This was my father’s first experience with handling babies but that didn’t deter him. He picked up the baby and gave him a firm slap on the diaper.
My brother gave a loud burp and happily settled down to sleep.”There,” said my father. “Didn’t I tell you?”
Fortunately, when I came along some years later my parents were well versed in babies and gas pains, so I had a relatively easy childhood. I think the department of education should cast a medal for the oldest child in every family for his or her role as a demonstrator model.
