Dear Letter to the Editor

I recently read your article “Is it Okay to Spank?” by Kitty O’Callaghan. In this article, she talks about the reasons that it is okay, or not okay to spank a child. The reasoning with long-term psychological damage, or border-line abuse; or how some people said that it didn’t hurt them in the long run, and that their children don’t listen to them unless they do spank their kids. I believe that there is no long term effect in spanking a child. I was a normal child, and I believe, as do my parents, that if not for the many spankings I got as I child, I would have been terrible. Children act out in many different ways; and usually for attention. I believe that when they act out in a positive way they should get positive reinforcement. And when they act out in a negative way, they should receive negative reinforcement. They would learn to only act out in a positive way, therefore not needing spankings. I also believe that if we implemented spanking as a punishment in society, such as in the school systems and daycare, there would be a positive outcome in many students. The teachers definitely would be able to manage their classrooms better. The thought in a child’s head that if he acted out in class that there is a spanking in front of his peers might help to motivate him to not act out. Teachers would not have to spend as much effort in keeping control of their unruly students, and focus more on the education that the students need. And in the daycare system, time outs don’t seem to help some children, as they continue to behave in such ways. If they were spanked, they might not continue to act in such ways. Remember back in 1994 when an eighteen year old American boy was in Singapore and was caught doing theft and vandalism? His punishment was being caned. If that was my son, then I would go to Singapore and get that cane and hang it above his door. Every time he started acting out, I would remind him of that beating and use it on him if I needed to. I bet that kid obeyed the law after that discipline. I believe that having this type of discipline in our school systems, and it being socially accepted would help our next generation of children to be better behaved and more responsible for their own actions.
Thanks,
Genice Waite