"Smacking Law" Works Say Child Advocates

Children are like geese and gander.  Some obey a lecture, others obey a switch.  My mother said her fear of her father spanking her, which he did very sparingly, saved her life even when he was miles away.  She said she still obeyed his belt and did not go swimming in the silo with the children the day a friend was drowned.  She abstained, because she felt like her father would find out somehow and spank her. So she went home when her friends all went swimming that day, and she was spared seeing the catastrophe. 

When my daughter was still crawling, she would crawl to our electrical outlets and try to put objects into the holes.  You may say I should have covered them.  But I could not be with my daughter all of the time, and it was important for her to know that she could not play with electricity.  I would instead go and get her from the outlet every time she did it and give her a toy to play with while saying "no, no."  This went on for a number of weeks.  One day, she was unaware that I was watching her, which I always was doing or she would have been in her crib.  I watched her crawl to the electrical outlet and stop to look left and right to see where I was.  I was standing in the doorway, but she did not see me.  She had a straw from the broom in her chubby little fingers that she wanted to stick into the outlet, but she looked to ensure her mommie would not see her first.  That was the day I knew she knew right from wrong and had made a conscious decision to disobey.  I dealt with the issue. 

By the time we went home to visit my aunt that Christmas, my aunt was amazed that my baby could be trusted to sit on a comforter underneath the Christmas tree with all of its bright decorations, strings of lights, little ornaments that were animated, surrounded by colorful packages.  The wonder of it all delighted her, made her laugh, babble, and clap.  Yet, she did not touch a single thing. 

I had a nephew whose mother considered putting him on Ritalin, because he was so out of control that she felt he may have ADD.  At six, he had already had to change schools three times.  He never showed those problems when at my house on weekends.  I told her that her son was gander, not a goose.  He needed spankings.  She kept trying not to do that.  Finally one day, they came by and even with his mom there, he acted calm and obedient for a change while in her care.  When I walked her to her car, I noticed a switch on her front seat.  ADD problem solved.

Sometimes, discipline is abused by aggressive parents, some with mental problems.  But often, discipline in the form of corporal punishment keeps one's children safe.  Lots of African Americans have a saying:  "Discipline your kids so the police won't have to."  A couple of months ago, an 11-year-old was charged as an adult and facing prison.  Maybe he still is.

Thanks for this report about New Zealand!