Wrong. They get the idea that violence in an acceptable way to solve diagreements. And it doesnt give them the message of what they did wrong and why it was wrong.

it never did me any harm, but i had to do something really bad to get a slap. i always knew what it was for aswell. it didnt happen often though. i also didnt grow up thinking violence was acceptable as someone said earlier. i will admit though grounding me would of hurt me more because i wouldnt have been able to go out

No. It feels extremely demeaning. I'm sure there's another way of disciplining children that doesn't involve hitting them, especially on the face.

Loaded question. I'd try everything else first, it doesn't seem right that an adult should use violence on a child. But..........when you've tried everything and your little terror shows signs of growing into a big terror. A short sharp smack on the legs might just stop them in their tracks and frighten them from repeating their naughtiness.

If, by "smack", you mean striking in the face, my answer is that it is "wrong".

on the butt or hand: yes anywhere else: no

Personally, I'm all for a good spanking every now and then. Downrate me at will, please. But I have very few rules that I consider very important, like not lying or stealing, and those will most certainly earn a spanking from me, although it is rare that rules like those are disobeyed. It is important to me to not spank for every little thing and show my children by the gravity of my response that there are a few things that truly deserve a punishment like a spanking. Also, if I find that I am angry I will send my child to their room and calm down before giving out a spanking, and lastly, it is also important to me to explain why my child is being punished and why what they did was not acceptable in our society and in our home.

No, one day they will be bigger than you and they might smack you back!!

Absolutely not! If you really have to smack a child, go to your local toy store and buy a stuff animal. Not only are they cute, but they are soft to hit!!!!! Use it as a punching bag if you wish. It doesn't hurt the hand and it won't cry.

The courts today, see smacking a child as assault. i see no problem with disciplining a child with a smack on the rear end. the dividing line is the waste. no higher than the waste. Example: oriental woman used a wood spoon to beat her daughter on the back, because she kept slipping out the back bedroom window and running away. we located the spoon, we located the daughter and compared the spoon marks on the back of the child. they matched. the girl was 10 years old. we arrested the mother for child abuse and agg. assault. Punishment becomes a crime, when the parent goes overboard and crosses the line, with punishment. leaving marks, scars and bleeding wounds. this is not punishment, its a person out of control. A smack of the butt is okay. its an eye opener for a child.

It's ok if it's on the butt. If you mean harm go to JAIL!!!

Part of me feels that I was hit (on the bottom and some slaps on the face) and it helped me more than hurt me. It was the norm of the time. I had no strong feelings either way when I became a parent. The first time I had the urge to hit my first child was when she hit me. I decided it did not make any sense to say "don't hit" and then hit her as a punishment. I decided at that point I would not hit. I do very much miss having it in my arsenal though. Many times I just can't get my children’s attention and a little smack might do it. Instead things often escalate further than they might have to. I think the jury is still out on this one.

I dont have one, but if I did... ooohh boy!

I think it is a bad idea. that is concidered child abuse,no child deserves to be hit,smacked or whatever.

Well, "smack" is a very nondescript term. If you mean slapping a hand to teach a very young child not to touch a hot stove, it's a good idea. Better than letting them learn to associate hot stoves with pain by letting them burn themselves. If you mean hitting them in any uncontrolled, angry, emotional way, just don't do it.

smacking is wrong

I think if I tried it now their husbands would have something to say to me!

I would never even think of smacking my child or any child it is abuse.

A light tap on a padded behind never hurt a child, nor a quick slap on the hand if they are in danger. But using implements, or bashing...no way.

I think a parent making a habit of physically disciplining their child is abusive, psychologically scarring to the child, and an all around bad parenting style. A parent losing their temper once or twice and striking their child in anger or panic is understandable, but when the "Smacking" becomes part of an instated system, i.e. when the child knows that if they do certain things, they *Will* be smacked, and the parent begins administering the smacks levelly, in a way that's actually intended to be a punishment, the line's been crossed. No child should have anything to fear from their parents.

Smacking is wrong. It shows you've lost your temper or you can't control your own emotions so are passing that onto the child in the way of a physical punishment, whether it's ''just a tap'' or not isn't the point, it's the principle behind it...you're projecting your own emotions onto someone else because you can't deal with them. Women (and men) go mad when they think people are getting away with domestic violence in the home. Hitting children is no better. Saying it teaches them something is the same as saying ''my wife didn't get my dinner ready the way I wanted it, so I hit her, but it was only a tap...she'll learn''. It's wrong on so many levels.

Imagine how it would feel if someone that was 9 feet tall, smacked you whenever they felt like it. That is how it feels for a child. Speaking from my own personal experience, all it did was make me ANGRY! It did teach me however that hitting in a general sense, is WRONG.

I think there is no basis for it. NO excuse and definitely no justification. There is a better way of teaching your kids and that is through PARENTING. Smacking is abuse.

My dad used to spank us... even used the belt on us when when REALLY screwed up. I was never afraid of him; he always made a point of teaching us why what we did merrited a spanking. Personally, i think parents nowadays have gotten so caugh up in the uber sensitive psycological deal that kids get away with a lot more. As far as abuse: there is a fine line. The biggest difference between abuse and punishment is intent and anger; striking a child in anger is quite diferent from spanking a child who attempted to steal a candy.

Only on the butt but not the bare butt and no where else.

I was spanked as a child and did not have any particular feeling about whether I would spank my children or not. The first thing my child did that made me want to give her a spank helped me decide if I was going to spank them or not - she hit me. I decided right then that it did not make sense for me to hit her and tell her not to hit. So I have not spanked my children. I sometimes wish I had that in my arsenal to get their attention, but I've found other options so far.

I believe that if it is for discipline and done with good intent and not with anger,there is nothing wrong with it.It has become an issue lately and now the law will tell us how to bring up our children.That is a load of crap.I was spanked as a child and have not ended up with trauma.I little smack on the butt is not a big deal.

I would not smack them in the face that is abuse but there is nothing wrong with giving them a whoopin if nothing else seems to work... That is whats wrong with kids now a days parents are afraid to hit, and kids know that they can get away with anything...

When I think of the word smack I think of hitting someone in the face and that is unacceptable for a parent to do. My parents spanked me and I turned out alright but never did they smack me. I now have a daughter of my own and I have yet to spank her. Granted she is only one and wouldn't understand anyway I think I will search for alternative solutions rather then spanking her. Never in a million years would I think of smacking her though.

You can smack them with your lips, just not your hands.

I think that might be taking it a little too far.

No. As long as you don't kill the kid, you should be fine.

I don't believe it is right, there are better ways to deal with children

If u put it like that yes.. come on! Smacking~!

Define "smack" I think a good butt-spanking can be necessary once in a while... but I am absolutely NO advocate of beating children, slapping them in the face, or using any type of weapon (i.e.: wooden spoon, remote control, "switch", or belt)

I think that depends on your definition of smacking. If you're raising your hand to your child's face, you're doing it in anger and you need to get a grip. Spanking, however, I do think has a place. Sometimes. If you have to do it more than a few times in your kid's life, you're using it wrong; if you ever leave a mark on the kid or cause any more pain than a rough high-five, you're doing it wrong.

We don't smack our kids,we spank them.it is about respect and instilling manners .If you stop disciplining your kids .the world will discipline them,and trust me the world will not be loving about it.

I don't favor the practice, but I fear enforcement of the law by Social Service bureuacrats more than abuse of the parent's judgment.

I'm all in favor of corporal punishment so long as it isn't taken the point of abuse. We have too many children these days that have no concept of "cause & effect" or "consequences for their actions" because parents are so fearful of actually punishing their children in a way that will make a differenc in their behavior.

I think smacking anyone should be banned.

A litlle spanking is fine. Beating them is not good and illegal.

Some kids need smacking, other kids need stern talks and reasoning. In the case of my brother, neither worked. If you hit him, he would shout "Hit Me Harder". If you tried to reason with him it was like talking to the wall.

no.

not within reason --no.

No. I don't think the government has any business telling me how to raise my children.

Hitting a child is not only abuse, it is assault. Any parent that would hit their own child is nothing short of a criminal.

no!

smack, no, spank, yes you leave a mark... yo uare wrong, you put the fear of god for doing something terrible, something horribly wrong? sometimes you have no chopice...

Smacking with your lips (kisses), yes, hands or belt, probably not. However, I do believe that if you do not instill discipline in your children somehow, you will lose them.

Always in moderation. Just like drinking. Don't drink and spank either.

wrong.

I only spanked my son when he was too young to understand. Never hard enough to really hurt, more to make a memory of don't do that again. Probably not 5 times in his whole life.

Anyone who reads my answers about parenting will normally see that I'm all for physical discipline, and I still am. However I recently saw something that changed my mind on any striking in the face. My little cousin James has known me all his life, however I know that his mother will strike him in the face (his father apparently never touches him) if she feels that he deserves it. When I reached out to him and went to ruffle his hair last time I saw him (I've been doing it to him since he was a toddler practically) he actually flinched and threw his head back. Thats a problem for me. Physical discipline is acceptable as long as it's not out of anger, as long as it's done in good thought, and as long as you don't touch the face nor any more sensitive area's. I grew up being physically disciplined, and still agree with it, but that things like the above are never right.

wrong for me because memory is everything

I'm very unsure about whether or not it's right. My parents never smacked me or my siblings when we did something bad, they told us off and took away priveledges and that taught us not to do it again. Reading some of these answers is quite interesting though, some people said that they were smacked when they were children and it never did them any harm, and that's how they're going to dicipline their own children. Doesn't that sort of show that smacking your children encourages violence, since they have no problem with hitting their own kids?

Leaving it to children to grow up pleasing themselves and maintaining an I'm-the-boss-of-me attitude - right or wrong? Smacking a child's bottom cuts right to the chase as far as demonstrating where the real authority lies in the parent/child relationship.

In the face? No. In the hand or bottom? Absolutely. Hey, it worked for me!

right, as long as it is called for, people who smack their kids for no reason.. a big no-no

Wrong. A smack is by-definition a hard blow. When done to a child the only conceivable reasons are punishment, teaching a lesson, or sadism. Deliberately inflicting pain to non-consenting parties is by-definition malevolent behaviour. A beating is defined as a series of blows intended as either punishment or an act of aggression. Therefore smacking a child is the deliberate act of malevolently beating them - that is not just wrong, it is illegal. ***** If you aren't smacking them (a smack is a hard blow), then leave me alone - I'm not talking about you. I really, really don't want over-zealous parents yelling at me AGAIN because they can't read what I've written. It's very frustrating. ***** There's nothing wrong with a slap on the wrist to let them know they've done something wrong - the saying 'a slap on the wrist' has entered into the English language to mean 'a light, harmless punishment' - it is therefore NOT smacking, NOT malevolent, and NOT a beating, and therefore --N--O--T-- what I'm talking about. ***** Smacking children - Wrong.

Smacking a child in the face? Very wrong. Smacking a child on the behind? Occasionally quite necessary!

it's acceptable within reason.

It depends on the type of spanking, how often the spanking happens and the reason for the spanking. I think that spanking is a valid punishment for certain offenses and for certain children. If you are going to spank you have to make sure that you use it sparingly and explain in detail why the kid got spanked.

If you can't control your child without smacking them, or use any other kinds of corporal punishment, you fail as a parent, in my oppinion. And sometimes, you just have to remember, that you shouldn't always punish for small, unimportant things. When I was 5, I think, I used to steal sugar lumps all the time, even when my parents were in the room. They moved the container to a place where I couldn't reach it, and didn't do anything else about it. Today I'm 18. I don't feel spoiled because of that..

I believe in light smacking. But only if done with common sense and only when it is really due!

well smacking...like in the face, it degrading. so i wouldnt do it.

DEAD WRONG. SHOULD BE A CLASS F FELONY.

When all else fails, usually a swat on the bottom with an open hand will get their attention..and which, by the way, usually hurts the hand more than the bottom.

As long as you aren't just doing it because you are mad, if you are doing it to teach the child a lesson then I see nothing wrong with it!

I think it's wrong, but it's not wrong by law in the US, right? It is in Denmark, since the eighties

We used to be beaten to sleep with broken bottles and it never did me never did me never did me any harm

No. Would you let your husband smack you?

Very bad manners.

I believe that ANY form of VIOLENCE shows a child that VIOLENCE is ok .... As a result; whenever he or she gets into a situation they will smack or hit to make their point ... There have to be alternative methods .. time out, taking away prized possessions and telling (NOT Yelling) them about it and why ...

I personally dont agree with smacking..

I don't think it's wrong. I was smacked as a child but my father was never agressive doing it. Growing up when I did something wrong and I got a smack for it I never did it again. I think if more children were disciplined harder then we wouldn't have such a large problem with out of control teenagers. However that said, people still grow up as perfectly fine people and their parents never smacked them. It's a matter of choice. I don't think that people should be judged on their decision to do it.

Controlled manner poses the question how controlled you are to smack in the first place doesn't it

Of course not. What could be "wrong" about a six foot, 200 pound parent whalling away at a two-foot, 30 pound child? Spanking satisfies the spanker, not the spankee. Consider how you would teach a dog. Would you beat the dog if he/she didn't do what you wanted or would you try loving correction? Why in God's name would anyone believe it is proper to strike a child to teach a lesson? To me, spanking is nothing more than an admission of total and complete failure on the part of the parent to properly set examples and teach a child. Give love, hugs, more love and more hugs. In my book, spanking is never justified. Never!

the more you beat children the more they will become rebellious, try to talk to them, try to give them an aim in life, for example if they are interested in a particular sport help them in learning about the game.

Well, I dont think it did me any harm, but I hope I never resort to it!

I think it is needed sometimes... only if they did something that is dangerous & only to a certain time of their lives... Only on the bottom.

Every child is different and therefore needs different disciplinary actions to correct. A child could be on the verge of death and still wont learn his lesson (I mean that almost literally), while other children would only require a stern look. I believe that spanking (not beating) as a corrective action used as necessary until lesson learned is appropriate. What's the best way to learn? By associating negative actions with pain... How the heck do you know not to touch the burning stove? Cause you freaking touched something hot before and got burned didn't cha? (Maybe not burned but enough of the heat to know it would hurt, right?) Hope this helps, lol. Sorry I like to ramble.

Mine is the same as the Bible... (Proverbs 13:24) The one holding back his rod is hating his son, but the one loving him is he that does look for him with discipline. (Proverbs 22:15) Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy; the rod of discipline is what will remove it far from him. the rod is not a good talking to...

I think smaking and beating are 2 def things. I think you should olny smake ur child if its dont somthing REALLY bad... say running into the road, but I don't think you should smack if it's just being a little bad or the child could get used to being smack and it wouldn't do nothig. I think there should be lvls theres no need to smack really, but only when they HAVE to know there worng

I am against it.

my parents are old so to them smacking a child was just what they knew, but they never actually hit us as such it was more a little tap, enough to let us know they knew business!! i think it is sometimes needed. but not often.

Spanking on the buttocks, an erogenous zone in childhood, can create in the child's mind an association between pain and sexual pleasure, and lead to difficulties in adulthood. Even relatively moderate spanking can be physically dangerous. Blows to the lower end of the spinal column send shock waves along the length of the spine, and may injure the child. The prevalence of lower back pain among adults in our society may well have its origins in childhood punishment. Some children have become paralyzed through nerve damage from spanking, and some have died after mild paddlings, due to undiagnosed medical complications. Physical punishment gives the dangerous and unfair message that "might makes right", that it is permissible to hurt someone else, provided they are smaller and less powerful than you are. The child then concludes that it is permissible to mistreat younger or smaller children. When he becomes an adult, he can feel little compassion for those less fortunate than he is, and fears those who are more powerful. This will hinder the establishment of meaningful relationships so essential to an emotionally fulfilling life. Anger and frustration are not easily expressed by a child, and keep festering within. One day your child will be old enough and strong enough to display his rage, and such rage is often directed towards parents who hit their children regularly and focus excessively on discipline. Punishment may appear to produce "good behavior" in the early years, but always at a high price, paid by parents and by society as a whole. An angry teenager who has been subject to regular beatings at home may grow up into an insensitive adult, who doesn�t think twice before beating up someone else. Such behaviour only increases violence in a society. Because children learn through parental modeling, physical punishment gives the message that hitting is an appropriate way to express feelings and to solve problems. If a child does not observe a parent solving problems in a creative and humane way, it can be difficult for him to learn to do this himself. For this reason, unskilled parenting often continues into the next generation.

Every kid needs some tough love and discipline. People have different views on spanking so to make it clear, it's not OK to spank or smack to cause pain intentionally, spanking is a last resort pretty much when you have warned your kid multiple times and then it's ok to smack them on the hand or butt. I used to get actual punches and open palmed, full force slaps and kicks while on the ground. That is obviously wrong.

Had a daughter. Never struck her. She's 16 and in college. Love works.

I probably will until there about 10 or so, after that it just turns into a fistfight

I'm totally against it. The reason is I am not able to keep the emotional component out of it and I believe very few people can do that which is why I don't believe it is a good method of discipline. Children are all very different and time has to be spent on how to discipline them if needed. Many parents view a children actions from their perspective only which is why we feel we need to discipline them, their action did not flow into our routine. I try my best to understand why the child is doing what they are doing and find ways of steering their behavior without disciplining them. That said, I am human and will resort to what I grew up with but that is not an excuse not to try it differently.

I got spanked in school! I finished in 2006 and I turned out all right. If the teacher says nobody must talk then nobody talks because otherwise he'll take you outside and give you a double with the "rottang"

Smacking a child in the face is not allowed, period. Spanking or a swat on the butt, works wonders for correcting a child. I have raised two children and two grandchildren that will agree.

i wouldnt because if my kids do something wrong it reflects on how the parent is... if your a abbusive parent first pf all jump off a bridge for abusing and your kids will probably be abusive to your kids copy you

AGAINST IT! that can be called child abuse, i would know...i got abusive spanking, and then i had t o live with a bunch of relatives, then finally went to live with a foster family, after 3 years, i got adopted...its bad...spanking SUCKS!

There is a proper Godly way to punish a child and that is not smacking or beating. the bible explains it all.

It depends: My dad whooped my ass 2 times (I had to learn it the hard way) : respect and no lies. I'm fine now, and I try to live by those values. My mom used to slap me all the time, it was totally useless. It did not make me the man I'm today.

I have never hit my kids and they are good kids.

Its a no no for me..I disagree with it..totally..

It's barbaric.

My knee-jerk answer is NO. I think you have to talk to them like adults and make them understnat. But, I thing swattingthe bottom is ok. Face hitting, beating, using tools and cords is heinous and,.......grrrrr, I'm getting mad now. My mom used to beat the f**k out of me with anything she got her hands on. But that's how it was back then. Well, I don't forgive the dog leashes and the inch-thick, grounded extension cord. That's just madness. Overall, no, there are better ways of dealing with the little brats.