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I wonder if verbal abuse is better than spanking. Most spanking is mild--- one to five slaps on the fanny through clothing, frequently through diapers---- and disappears once the child is old enough to reason with. Belittling, nagging, undermining of confidence, and so on can be vicious and go on forever, as in the classic "dysfunctional family Thanksgiving movie". But more than that, should we infer from the fact that some verbal correction is abuse that all verbal correction is wrong? Of course not, some correction is necessary. Well, then, why should we infer that since some physical correction is abusive, we may not employ any? That is not only illogical, it threatens the liberty of parents throughout the country, and is insidious. We are setting up a basis for massive interference in family life, once a spank or even a slap is defined as "abuse", since most parents do it, whether programmatically or in frustration, from time to time. The next step would be to consider verbal admonition to be abusive, and to take away our children on that basis......Incidentally, if you speak to your own children the way you do to JLA, well, I would worry about your Thanksgivings..... |
