Should you beat the crap out of your kids? I’m going to go with ummmm... no?
The new scandal du jour is Adrian Peterson, a man who allegedly abused his 4 year old son. That's bad. Now let me preface this by saying; it’s never okay to beat your children. Ever ever ever. But spanking or disciplining your child is not the same as abuse. See, people show these truly disturbing pictures of Peterson’s son and immediately conflate them with any and all physical disciplining of children. Granted, spanking isn’t for every kid, and at a certain point it becomes age inappropriate.
Cutaway to Steven sitting on the couch as his father sternly removes his belt.
DAD: Did you use foul language in front of the ladies?
STEVEN: No daddy, No!!!!
See, I was spanked and you know what... I deserved it! I was a trouble-making, little turd who served no purpose other than to make my parent's lives difficult. Want to know what else? It worked! The sting of the wooden spoon taught me to no longer deep-freeze my snowballs before the fort war. But it’s important to differentiate between actual abuse… and spanking. Because you know who that ultimately belittles? The kids who've actually been seriously abused.
Cutaway to boy in footie pajamas licking a lollipop.
KID 2: Oh really, your parents spank you? My dad lights matches on my feet, then duck tapes my own socks in my mouth and locks me in a closet for days on end while blaring Van Halen’s Panama on a loop like a morphine drip. So...
The root issue here is the same as with all media malpractice. When you declare all Conservatives racist, it belittles actual racism. When you declare the whole country to be sexist, people are desensitized toward the actual abuse of women. When you declare all “spanking” to be gross mistreatment of children, actual child abuse loses impact.
But what do you think? Is spanking the same as abuse? Is it at all effective in raising good children and where should the line be drawn? Comment below. Just try to keep it civil, because it’s easy to tell that most of you neck-bearded basement-dwelling online lurkers… well, you probably weren’t spanked enough.
Can you spank your children without CPS knocking down your door?
Should you beat the crap out of your kids? I’m going to go with ummmm... no?
The new scandal du jour is Adrian Peterson, a man who allegedly abused his 4 year old son. That's bad. Now let me preface this by saying; it’s never okay to beat your children. Ever ever ever. But spanking or disciplining your child is not the same as abuse. See, people show these truly disturbing pictures of Peterson’s son and immediately conflate them with any and all physical disciplining of children. Granted, spanking isn’t for every kid, and at a certain point it becomes age inappropriate.
Cutaway to Steven sitting on the couch as his father sternly removes his belt.
DAD: Did you use foul language in front of the ladies?
STEVEN: No daddy, No!!!!
See, I was spanked and you know what... I deserved it! I was a trouble-making, little turd who served no purpose other than to make my parent's lives difficult. Want to know what else? It worked! The sting of the wooden spoon taught me to no longer deep-freeze my snowballs before the fort war. But it’s important to differentiate between actual abuse… and spanking. Because you know who that ultimately belittles? The kids who've actually been seriously abused.
Cutaway to boy in footie pajamas licking a lollipop.
KID 2: Oh really, your parents spank you? My dad lights matches on my feet, then duck tapes my own socks in my mouth and locks me in a closet for days on end while blaring Van Halen’s Panama on a loop like a morphine drip. So...
The root issue here is the same as with all media malpractice. When you declare all Conservatives racist, it belittles actual racism. When you declare the whole country to be sexist, people are desensitized toward the actual abuse of women. When you declare all “spanking” to be gross mistreatment of children, actual child abuse loses impact.
But what do you think? Is spanking the same as abuse? Is it at all effective in raising good children and where should the line be drawn? Comment below. Just try to keep it civil, because it’s easy to tell that most of you neck-bearded basement-dwelling online lurkers… well, you probably weren’t spanked enough.
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