Oh, there I said it, one of those taboo words, Spanking.  For the record, I am not a doctor nor am I a psychologist, so now that that is out there, let em tell you what I am. I am a parent. I am father of two boys. I am a son to two loving parents. I am the son of divorced parents. I am the son of a Colonel in the US Army. I am from the south.

Why do I say all of those things that I am? Because I’m tire of seeing this video that has been going around on Youtube:

Here is my issue. It is the parents job to set the boundaries and to set exceptions, not engage a child in a debate.  If the parent said that the boy could not have a cupcake for dinner, then that is what was going to happen, not film a 3 minute video on it. But, to go a step further, you’ve got those on the other side that just have a issue with spanking:

Former HuffPost Senior Columnist, Lisa Belkin, argues that the spanking “debate” shouldn’t exist, because there aren’t two sides — decades of research shows that spanking is ineffective and psychologically harmful. But still, news outlets and other parenting blogs discuss the practice often. The real news here is that the Internet is choosing to ignore that part this time, for no clear reason. (Read more from the Huffington Post here)

So here is my issue and it is simple, who’s place is it to say that spanking is ineffective and better yet, harmful? For the record, there is a line between spanking and beating your child and I DO NOT CONDONE THAT! I do on the other hand, see that if a child is misbehaving, (a lot depends on the age of the child here too, as a 2 year can’t grasp this concept in my opinion) a light smack on the leg to get their attention is ok. Again, there is a difference between spanking a child to inflect pain, and popping their legs to get there attention.  I am not talking about leaving a hand print on a child.

Was I spanked as a child, absolutely. Do I have authority issues? No, because I know to this day what would happen to me if I were to misbehave. Is that a psychological issue? Maybe? But I know the difference between right from wrong. I know that the difference between doing good and wrong to others. I also know that I love my sons more than anything  else in this world and I want to protect them and teach them to be contributing members of our society. I want them to see that there are times as a parent, that I have to discipline them. Does that mean that I’m going to spank them? No, I would rather not spank them. But, that doesn’t mean that if I needed to smack their leg to get their attention, that I wouldn’t do it. Again, spanking, i.e. hitting a child hard enough to leave a mark and smacking a child on their legs to get their attention are two entirely differently  things.

So back to this video, a video where the 3 year old called his, I believe his mother or grandmother by their first name Linda. Growing up, had I called an adult by their first name, let’s just say that there would be several spankings involved, no question asked. Not to mention to mention that there would be restrictions and apologizes. But the parent did not lay down the ground rules and kept filming the video because they thought that it was funny. I have yet to find the humor in it. Still, several days after having watched it for the firs time.

Parents, be parents for your children. Set the ground rules. You are their parents, not their friends that they can hang out with and run all over. If there isn’t a change in behavior now, I only wonder how our society will end up in 20 years?  Do some Google searche sand I think that you’ll have articles/blogs/stories on both sides of the issue. But I can only speak for myself and my experience and that is simply, spanking can be a good way to teach and get your child’s attention to teach them a life lession.