I was at the mall one day with my mother-in-law and nephew, who has a ton of energy to say the very least. The youngest of two and born in September (yay, fellow Virgos!) he has always displayed, shall we say, determination and spunk – too bad it’s generally not in a good way. We ended up in a shoe store and this little guy decided he did not want to listen to grandma. That was of course before he started screaming AND knocking off all the shoes on a display. Besides the fact that we were the only people of color in that store I was truly baffled at how crazy this four-year-old was acting – did he forget who his grandma is?
Needless to say my mother-in-law was on it taking off her chancleta (that’s Spanish slang for slipper or flip flop) going to work on his butt. Did I mention we were the only people of color in the store? Well, I don’t want to assume everyone acts the same but y’all know the type of looks we were getting from white people. One woman in particular was very bold to make her feelings known by approaching my mother-in-law, but before she did my husband’s mama had some choice words for her.
“I don’t know why you are looking at me like I acted up. If I don’t beat some sense into this boy he will rob your house. Will you stare then?”
Obviously she wasn’t beating him nor does she really believe he would rob someone’s house.
I don’t care what a Supernanny or anyone else says, I know I am going to spank my child. My parents and family are old-school and it helped to keep me in line when those “or else” countdowns went into negative numbers. And time out corners? Forget it! I use to sit and laugh internally as I waited for my time to pass by.
Now that I’m a mom, I’m not here to jump on a soapbox and say you have to – you know your baby and what form of discipline works for them. And while I am strongly against those crazy parents dragging their children through store aisles (take anger management much?), my child will get a spanking when he gets older, should he get out of hand. This whole “treat your child as an equal” wave people are riding is getting out of control with more children speaking to their parents and others older than them like they’ve lost their mind. Heck, you could be next in line at The People’s Court because your child decides they want to sue you – and I’m not saying it’s because no one whipped up on them, but being too lax is never good.
Personally, I would spank my child in a private area if he decides to turn up outside our home. I don’t need an audience or anyone thumb-ready to dial child services. I bet you if my nephew got spanked more at home he wouldn’t have turned crazy (you can tell he gets over on his parents). He surely did learn that day as his grandma made him put every shoe back that he knocked off. Needless to say he was well-behaved after that mishap and has since learned to listen to his grandmother the first time.
What do you think about spanking? Yay or Nay?
