The topic of the week seems to be spanking/whipping/beating your kids. To spank, or not to spank? That is the question. Heres the answer (kinda). You have to do what WORKS. A punishment needs to be something the kid does NOT want to happen. Some kids care nothing about a spanking - especially boys and especially if its their mom spanking them. True story - I was about to call a parent on one of my kids. I pulled his info sheet out and saw moms and dads numbers. I asked him who I should call. He said mom. I looked at his carefree yet defiant attitude and said, I am calling your dad. This 62 200 pound kid hollers, NOOOOOOOO, Mrs. Green! OK, OK. Im sorry I SWEAR Ill act right! And on and on. After questioning him, I found out that his mom would, more than likely, spank him. But his DAD had told him that if a teacher called him, he would go home and take off his $500 suit (hes a lawyer), put on a brightly colored track suit, some flip flops and a Jheri curl wig. Then hed come up to the school and follow him around for the day introducing himself as Juniors dad to everyone he sees. This kid was mortified at the thought of that! However, if I tried to do that to MY son, hed laugh. Devin doesnt get embarrassed. Donnah, however, would be like this boy - mortified. (When she was in first grade, I went to pick her up once with rollers in my hair. She looked at me standing in her classroom doorway then acted like she didnt know me!) Many kids would MUCH rather be on lockdown than to have their phone or video games taken. Some kids would prefer a spanking to a lock down. Many kids would rather be hollered at for 5 minutes than talked to softly and in a disappointed tone for an hour. Some are the opposite. I have had this conversation with students many times over the years because it relates to something I teach. So many parents have no clue why their punishments are ineffective with their child but this is why - the parent is punishing in a way that THEY think is effective but little do they know. If whipping is all you do and it doesnt seem to matter, try something else.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:19:25 +0000