Spanking children as a punishment (poll included)

"I can't explain why what you're doing is wrong so I'm just going to hit you"

This being a student forum there'd be very few parents.
Whilst not a parent myself my views are based on what I've heard a lot of my friends who are parents say.

Us here may not have experience on being parents we've all been children.

If you messed up at work you don't expect your boss to smack you. So why do it to someone just because they can't hit back?

They shouldn't be trained like animals. Teach/tell them why things are wrong. People should want to do the right thing out of morality, not because they'll get a smack otherwise.

I was smacked as a child, as were all my friends. We've all turned out fine...

I never say you didn't but it doesn't take away from the fact I still think it's lazy parenting.

I don't see what the problem is. When I was little, and did something that was obviously wrong, and then chatted back to my mum or dad I was duly punished.

(basically I plastered the ceiling of a school toilet in wet toilet roll when I was like 7.)

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We'd expect you to have matured into a decent human being by then. Adult's communications skills are more enhanced than children's so communication may be deemed most suitable.

Children tend to communicate physically rather than verbally to convey a point. I can't sit and have a conversation with a 4 year old. They tend to have very short attention spans. Children's programmes are less verbal and more physical and look how much they concentrate when watching Children's TV. The most suitable way of communicating is physical. I'm not saying spanking is the way forward but parents need to be physical in some way.

There is no link between spanking a child for the sake of discipline and encouraging future behaviour and training an animal for whatever reason.

I also think may we need to define what we call "spanking", many on here seem to be confusing it with malicious intent.

I'm assuming the OP was referring to spanking or smacking a child to punish it for wrong-doing. I'm sure everyone here will agree that child abuse consisting of persistent beatings is another thing entirely.

I still believe that hitting a child for any reason is wrong, even a spank to punish a child, like many others have said it is just lazy parenting.

If a child needs restraining then yes of course you need to get physical for the safety of themselves and others around them but that's different to smacking them when there is no immediate danger. There are lots of people in society who can not communicate verbally due to various disabilities would that make it ok to hit them?

On a side 4 year olds are able to hold a conversation it won't be very intellectual but it's a conversation nevertheless.

Disabled children or adults? It also depends on there disability but where dwindling into a totally different thread. It totally depends on what they're doing and why they're doing it. Disabled children should be treated differently...to a certain extent. Disabled children still need discipline and restraint just as any child but this may need to approached differently in order for them to understand.

Adult who are disabled should be treated differently... to a certain extent. It also really depends on their disability. Their communication skills would have also enhanced, not necessarily orally but through the use of sign language etc. They too should have turned into decent human beings, some able to live independent lives and have grown to make rational decisions on their own. Spanking them at this stage may prove pointless.