Originally Posted by
madamekelly
My kids got a swat on the behind, when they tried to do something forbidden, after the first warning. Incidents like trying to run off across a parking lot, permanent felt pen on the walls, permanent green felt pen on my friend's Dalmatian to connect the dots, slapping, biting, shoving each other or other children. Getting into forbidden things, like cleaning supplies, etc. otherwise we talked things over. My DD's knew if I swatting them, they had done something really bad or stupid. We always talked about the why every time.
I would like to add that when I said swat above, that is what it was, open handed, a swat on the behind. It was more to insult their dignity just enough to encourage caution. Both DDs tell people that they only got hit to "open their eyes". Pain was never the intent. I was severely beaten as a child, but never did more than swat my kids.
When I discovered that I was pregnant the first time, and expressed fear of repeating history to my OBGYN, he gave me a copy of a book called "dare to discipline" that said "punishment of any kind should always end at the first real tear". That advice kept me from repeating my history on my kids.