S/O Am I the only one that had no idea spanking was still allowed in some states?

[Anna0623]

I did not know it was legal for schools to spank kids. No way i would allow that for any of my children especially my difficult dd. where seriously considering home schooling them past prek and kindergarden. My dh keeps giving ne statistics on home school kids versus public school kids and i think i could handle home schooling her to give her a better chance at sucess( what ever that may be for her).

[Bear Family]

Originally Posted by waterisntsomething I didn't know until a few months back when I found this website...http://www.stophitting.com/ There are so many states that still allow it! They even show the statistics for the worst states for it. ETA : hrees the states that allow it http://www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=statesbanning

Thanks for the link, that is just crazy to me! I know people who live in 3 of the states where it is allowed (TN, ID and TX) and had no clue!

[L J]

It's legal and practiced here. Alabama, public schools.

BUT, the parent always chooses whether their child is paddled or suspended. You get 5 licks or 5 days, for example.

My parents always chose paddling (I got caught smoking in the bathroom a lot ) because when you are suspended you can't make up work. They didn't care about smoking in the bathroom as long as I kept my 4.0 GPA.

It never hurt. It was pretty absurd, really.

I like having the option, as a parent, to choose which punishment fits with my parenting philosophies best.

My DS in in kindergarten, obviously I would choose suspension. If he's in high school and its the week of a big test that will greatly affect his class ranking? Bend over.

ETA: Even up through high school, the parent MUST be present during the paddling. I went to 5 different school districts in this state, and my child has already been in two, and its the same in all so I am assuming that is a statewide regulation. That absolutely cannot take your child into the office and paddle on a whim - they must follow the proper steps.

[Scarlett's mommy]

Originally Posted by Bear Family For the people that live in a state where it is legal, is it only in private schools? I wonder if your (general you) child goes to a school where spanking is practiced, you could opt your child out of it?

i know they still practice it in the public school that i went to because i have cousins who go to that school now. we plan to home school but if we were to send our kids to public school we would definitely opt out of them ever being spanked at school. people who want to spank their kids at home is one thing but i dont think the state should have any hand in physically punishing a
child.

[momtojande]

It's legal in our state, but our district has a policy that explicitly forbids it. Plus, they have very clear policies on what they do use for discipline, and spanking wouldn't fit in anywhere.

I would not allow a school to spank my child.

[Kiliki]

Originally Posted by L J It's legal and practiced here. Alabama, public schools. BUT, the parent always chooses whether their child is paddled or suspended. You get 5 licks or 5 days, for example. My parents always chose paddling (I got caught smoking in the bathroom a lot ) because when you are suspended you can't make up work. They didn't care about smoking in the bathroom as long as I kept my 4.0 GPA. It never hurt. It was pretty absurd, really. I like having the option, as a parent, to choose which punishment fits with my parenting philosophies best. My DS in in kindergarten, obviously I would choose suspension. If he's in high school and its the week of a big test that will greatly affect his class ranking? Bend over. ETA: Even up through high school, the parent MUST be present during the paddling. I went to 5 different school districts in this state, and my child has already been in two, and its the same in all so I am assuming that is a statewide regulation. That absolutely cannot take your child into the office and paddle on a whim - they must follow the proper steps.

I agree with this post.

I think it serves a purpose. Esp for those ridiculous kids that get so out of control - throwing furniture, screaming, biting, attacking teachers and counselors - I bet *some* of those kids are kept in check knowing they might get paddled.

In a perfect world, all kids would listen easily, all parents would agree on how to discipline every child, and no one would ignore bad behavior and raise a monster... but this is reality, and unfortunately, not every kid responds to mild discipline, not every family knows how to be consistent with discipline, and sadly, some kids are completely ignored and allowed to become completely uncontrollable with no respect for any authority figure.

We do spank when the kids get ridiculous and out of control and there is no other way to get through to them, after we've tried every other method. I refuse to let my kid turn into a raging maniac throwing things, hitting people, pushing over furniture, etc. This is what some kids ARE DOING and the poor teachers and staff are at a total loss... they have to stand and helplessly watch. If they restrain the kid, they get in trouble for touching them and suddenly a parent is suing the school board. If they call the cops, people freak out that they're being outrageous. I think if they had permission to paddle a kid in that situation, they would be able to get the situation under control quickly, with minor disruption to everyone else, and return to normal, with less of a threat to teachers and staff, and less things getting damaged.

I think it's easy to get all up in arms about it when you forget the fact that teachers and staff really have very little they can do to stop an out of control kid who really does NOT care about suspension, grades, privileges being taken, etc.

[SamanthaSews]

Yeah I was a bit shocked to read that. I knew spanking was allowed when I went to elementary school in MO & I think I remember hearing of kids getting the belt on very rare & extreme cases of bad behavior. But that was in the early 90s. I never heard of paddling occurring when I went to middle & high school in KY.

I am surprised that some schools still use this form of punishment in this day & age. And that it is legal!

Sent from my iPhone using DS Forum

[escapethevillage]

I don't spank my child. But, if my child needed to be spanked at school, she'd catch so much crap from me at home, her little world would be turned upside down. I expected nearly perfect behavior from her outside the home. She never once even had to change her card from green to yellow. (she would have been crushed)

Seriously bad behavior at school is not acceptable to me at home.

A child with special needs would probably not be disciplined the same way as a kid with problem behavior. A child who purposely makes a really bad choice can suffer the consequences that come with it.

Cops are a consequence of breaking laws as an adult. I'd rather my child learn the hard way in school than out in the world.

[harmoni247]

I was shocked, but DH wasn't....he saw this article awhile back:

http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.co...omment-page-1/

A male vice principal swatting a 15 year old girl behind closed doors. And it's LEGAL. That's insane! How is that not considered sexual assault?

[harmoni247]

I think some of these arguments are the equivalent of saying "I never had a carseat growing up and I came out just fine."

I'm happy that some of you were never taken advantage of because of this law, but it's still a law with a HUGE margin of error. Whether it's intentions are good or not (which is debatable in itself even for parents), it opens the door for sadistic punishment. If a parent who has good intentions with spanking can end up beating their own child because their anger got out of control, imagine how much easier anger can escalate for a near stranger who doesn't even love your child. I wouldn't risk it with my own children because the stakes are just too high, no matter the intention....there's no way in hell I should be expected to trust a near stranger to control their anger if some parents can't even do it.