Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

Whenever I hear a story about a child being spanked, or beaten two thoughts flood my memory. The first is from my own childhood; the scene starts in the dining room with a mother instructing her young child to go to the server to retrieve the paddle and to bring it back to her. The young child does as she is told, and then is spanked on the butt. I do not remember the pain, but I do remember the hatred it conjured up in the young child toward the mother. The offense is forgotten, the pain is forgotten. but the injury to the relationship between the mother and child is never forgotten.

Fast forward to another home where the young child is now a young mom to a very active, spirited 19month old boy. Grandparents are visiting for the weekend, and the young boy is climbing on the chairs, up walls, and getting into all sorts of rough-house mischief. The young mom reigns in her son, tries to put the child into time-out but must restrain him in his chair. The young mom would not learn until several months later that her consistent but gentle restraining and refusal to spank this spirited child has taught the young boy that time-outs are much shorter if he sits still in his time-out. He learns to use this time to settle himself down. It would be many years later before this young mom learns that her spirited boy also has ADHD and has severe auditory processing disorder making it difficult for his brain to quickly process the sounds in his world. But on this particular day the young mom is urged by the grandmother to spank the boy, that all he really needs is a good ol’fashion spanking to fix his behavior. The young mom refuses to spank the boy, and even though the grandmother further protests that the young mom’s methods are obviously not working, the young mom refuses to spank her child.

The young boy is now a young man who has never been spanked. He is a well disciplined, well behaved, a thoughtful young man who diligently does as he is told, appropriately questions as he feels fit and is a pleasure to be with. How thankful I am that I rejected the punishment methods used upon me and found an alternative means to train up my child with love. And so last night when it was brought to my attention that my blog was housed on a site supportive of corporal punishment of children I found an alternative location to blog.

I will boycott The Pearls, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Homeschool Blogger, and as always urge parents to learn discipline methods that do not rely upon a rod or other physical punishment to train up a child. To read more about this boycot and the reason behind it, please visit this blogpost:

http://asmallcornerofnowhere.blogspot.com/2006/03/open-letter-in-support-of-boycott.html

SPANKING IS WRONG. THERE IS NEVER, EVER A REASON TO HIT, STRIKE, or SPANK a child. We have a mind, use it.