Georgia paddling video

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Why on earth would you do that to a child when "no" would work just as well and actually clearly teach them it was not acceptable?
Yes, we are at the point where you don't flick your kid. It's a good place to be.

Just to play devils advocate but telling a child "no" doesn't always work. Some kids need the immediate unpleasant feedback to understand that they shouldn't do that. I'm not saying I support paddling or spanking or anything just that simply telling a child "no" doesn't always work.

 

[jodifla]

The mother has her issues, but the "educators" have no excuse. They look and act like total bumpkins. All the studies show positive behavior plans are what work. In their field they SHOULD KNOW THIS.

Poor kid. With lousy adults like these surrounding him, he's going to have a very tough road.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

"Next week on Lockup..."

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

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[CPanther95]

Why on earth would you do that to a child when "no" would work just as well and actually clearly teach them it was not acceptable?
Yes, we are at the point where you don't flick your kid. It's a good place to be.

Obviously "No" isn't working if you have a kid with a biting problem.

 

[sam_gordon]

Why on earth would you do that to a child when "no" would work just as well and actually clearly teach them it was not acceptable?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[superme80]

Why on earth would you do that to a child when "no" would work just as well and actually clearly teach them it was not acceptable?
Yes, we are at the point where you don't flick your kid. It's a good place to be.

I'm sorry but I am laughing at your response. I have 3 boys. They are all very different. My oldest was and is my rule follower. My middle son is a bit more wild. Then there is my youngest. He is very rough, he bites, and pulls hair. With his brothers, they are usually capable of settling their own differences. With my youngest, I have flicked him in the forehead. I have tried saying, "No" and reminding him to be gentle. With my oldest, that works. With my middle, it took a couple of times and it worked. With my youngest, he will stop, laugh, an do it again. So yes he has gotten flicked or a hand smacking for pinching, biting, or hair pulling. It mainly shocks him and he knows I mean business.

 

[mummabear]

Just to play devils advocate but telling a child "no" doesn't always work. Some kids need the immediate unpleasant feedback to understand that they shouldn't do that. I'm not saying I support paddling or spanking or anything just that simply telling a child "no" doesn't always work.

And the negative feedback you can give is leaving where you are. When my DD was a biter we picked up and went home whenever she bit. She learned quickly that biting meant an immediate end of fun.

Obviously "No" isn't working if you have a kid with a biting problem.

A biting problem really isnt any different to any other negative behaviour and should be dealt with accordingly but peopkle who think it will teach their children not to bite/hit by biting or hiting them are pretty ridiculous.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Interesting thread.

Personally, watching the video, what bothers me most about the school's actions is not the method of discipline but that the educators seem to be sort of enjoying punishing this 5 year old---they are clearly sick and tired of his behaviour (understandable) and almost gleeful at "getting back" at him with this punishment (not understandable). That would bother me a whole lot even if the punishment were something more commonplace like a time out or missed recess.

And, like many of you, the mother really bothers me. Her story does NOT add up--and even if it did and she truly felt she had no other option than to allow the paddling, she did nothing to try to sooth and calm her child to help him get through it (you know, like you might try to help a kid get through a shot they were frightened of, etc).

As far as the actual issue of spanking:

I am torn. I did not spank. I think for the vast majority of kids there are much better options--but I can believe for a small number that the best "currency" to work with them with might be short lived, controlled (not done in anger, etc) pain. I think using it in school for a really young child like this is going too far, but would not be opposed to it being an option for older kids (maybe 10 and up) in school. Not the only thing, but an option, I can see that as reasonable. While for some it might well be the worst thing and not appropriate at all, but for others it might be more palatable than being confined in detention or ISS, etc.

And, while I was not a spanker myself, and (again) think there are normally much better methods, I think it is ridiculous to say spanking is not ok because adults cannot hit one another to settle issues. Adults also cannot put one another in corners or time out or take away the favorite possessions of other people, or remove them forcibly from something fun, etc.

Personally, I tried to limit any interactions that are only OK for adult-child but not peer-peer with my kids, and used reason, forseeing issues and trying to head them off (not spend too long running errands, etc) as much as possible. But sometimes you have to be the one in charge as a parent, and some kids are less reasonable in general than others (no matter what kind of parent you are) and different parents and different kids find differing ways of handling that which work for them. Out of control hitting/beating/spanking, out of control yelling and berating, removing all their possessions so they have nothing to lose, humiliating the child by making them hold a sign on a streetcorner, etc are all over the top, mean spirited and not really teaching tools--but minor variations of all of those things (minor controlled spanking, a reasonable lecture, taking away a favourite item to be earned back, the humiliation of being made to apologize to someone you were rude to, etc are all in the realm of acceptable for the right situation for some parents and some children IMO).

 

[pocomom]

Just to play devils advocate but telling a child "no" doesn't always work. Some kids need the immediate unpleasant feedback to understand that they shouldn't do that. I'm not saying I support paddling or spanking or anything just that simply telling a child "no" doesn't always work.

Obviously it was a simplified answer. There are of course lots of ways to discipline your kids that don't involve hitting,flicking, or otherwise putting your hands on a child.

I think it is crazy that so many people think it is OK to do things to the most vulnerable members of our society, our children, that they would NEVER do to say an elderly or mental/emotionally challenged person.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

It didn't. The mom claimed she was told it would but it was discovered later that a suspension would not count toward truancy. Basically, the mom is making it up as she goes along.

That totally makes sense.

 

[CPanther95]

I think it is crazy that so many people think it is OK to do things to the most vulnerable members of our society, our children, that they would NEVER do to say an elderly or mental/emotionally challenged person.

My Dad is in his 80's. If he bit my arm, I wouldn't hesitate to flick him on the forehead with my finger.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

My Dad is in his 80's. If he bit my arm, I wouldn't hesitate to flick him on the forehead with my finger.

Or go with the standard, "Don't make me turn around and take your teeth out again!".

 

[Wishing on a star]

Okay... this thread is going the way of

But I just have to ask... WTH is this 'flicking' in the forehead thing.
Seriously.... Wow...
I am not a no-spanking purist by any means.
I do know and fully believe that some children need stronger forms of discipline.
But, NO WAY IN HE!! AM I GOING TO TOUCH/ASSAULT ANYONE, ESPECIALLY A CHILD, IN THE FACE, EVER.
If a child is ever known to actively assault other children in the face/head... smacking, pinching, pulling hair, etc.. I might, while teaching/disciplining them, 'give them a little taste of what it is like for the other person'. So they know why it is just NOT acceptable.

No way do I think that violence works to stop violence.

No way am I any more okay with 'flicking' in the forehead/face than I am with what these horrid women put this child thru.

 

[speller95]

Okay... after watching the video and reading some of the comments, I would like to provide my 2 cents. Growing up in the deep South (Louisiana), pretty much everyone I know has been spanked at one time or another (still in high school, so I'm certainly not out of touch), however I have not as my parents truly believed that there were better methods to discipline. They didn't not use corporal punishment because they thought it was "barbaric" or "inhumane", as it truly is not. For those complaining that the child was "hit with a stick", that statement truly does sound ludicrous. All schools that allow corporal punishment do it with a paddle, not just this one school district. I feel like the situation would be exacerbated if the child had been spanked with the administrator's hand, as that would cause loads of other issues. I go to a private Christian school, so spanking is in the Bible and it's basically ingrained into the culture, however, it is NEVER done in malice, and the administrators in the video were certainly NOT acting out of malice.

Now, for the paddling itself, there wasn't one!! Not once did that paddle make contact with the child's rear end, so I truly do not see the issue. As for those of you arguing that paddling in schools makes the quality of education decline, the school district in which I reside does not allow corporal punishment and is still one of the worst districts in the state. It's all about where the money goes and how the money is spent (but that's a different discussion for another day!) Overall, while I don't think corporal punishment is the best option, I think it should be an option, and as for the "paddling" in the video, I think that the administrators should not have wrestled with him, but they did not even paddle him so I still do not see where the controversy is.

 

[jodifla]

Okay... after watching the video and reading some of the comments, I would like to provide my 2 cents. Growing up in the deep South (Louisiana), pretty much everyone I know has been spanked at one time or another (still in high school, so I'm certainly not out of touch), however I have not as my parents truly believed that there were better methods to discipline. They didn't not use corporal punishment because they thought it was "barbaric" or "inhumane", as it truly is not. For those complaining that the child was "hit with a stick", that statement truly does sound ludicrous. All schools that allow corporal punishment do it with a paddle, not just this one school district. I feel like the situation would be exacerbated if the child had been spanked with the administrator's hand, as that would cause loads of other issues. I go to a private Christian school, so spanking is in the Bible and it's basically ingrained into the culture, however, it is NEVER done in malice, and the administrators in the video were certainly NOT acting out of malice.

Now, for the paddling itself, there wasn't one!! Not once did that paddle make contact with the child's rear end, so I truly do not see the issue. As for those of you arguing that paddling in schools makes the quality of education decline, the school district in which I reside does not allow corporal punishment and is still one of the worst districts in the state. It's all about where the money goes and how the money is spent (but that's a different discussion for another day!) Overall, while I don't think corporal punishment is the best option, I think it should be an option, and as for the "paddling" in the video, I think that the administrators should not have wrestled with him, but they did not even paddle him so I still do not see where the controversy is.

Seriously? Two educators standing around giggling while a child gets more and more distressed because they spend a lot of time talking about how they are going to hit him with a big stick?

And that's A-OK by you?

 

[speller95]

Seriously? Two educators standing around giggling while a child gets more and more distressed because they spend a lot of time talking about how they are going to hit him with a big stick?

And that's A-OK by you?

Please give me a range of a few seconds where I can see that these administrators are actually giggling. While they could have handled it with a bit more tact, I don't recall them ever actually giggling at the situation.

 

[jodifla]

Please give me a range of a few seconds where I can see that these administrators are actually giggling. While they could have handled it with a bit more tact, I don't recall them ever actually giggling at the situation.

They are making light of it the whole time, practically. They look like sociopaths. They have zero empathy for the child. It's blatant unprofessionalism.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Just because the video doesn't show the boy being paddled doesn't mean it didn't happen. It means the camera stopped filming. Those ladies seemed pretty intent on carrying out the deed. We don't know what followed, just as we don't know all the background about this child and the specifics of this incident.

Regardless, I stand by my belief that it is an unacceptable form of punishment. So you hit children to teach them a lesson that hitting is wrong? That makes no sense, but I know those of you who disagree will never be convinced.

I guess you subscribe to "Do as I say, not as I do." My parenting philosophy is more like "Children learn what they live.", which I learned from my own parents.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I totally agree with the last posts.
While, at the very beginning, the women seem to be trying to reason with and placate the child.
After the first few seconds, their actions and the fact that they seemed to get great pleasure from their actions, seemed very clear.

There is just no way, EVER, that it is acceptable to spank a 5 year old child in school, when there is no obligation, whatsoever, for that child to even be in school.
I am assuming that education in that State is mandatory from age 6.
Has anyone confirmed that?
If this is true, then any mother who takes her 5 year old child into the school, and then actually stands and watches while something like this happens, is just as guilty, and 'off', as those two women on the school staff.

The appropriate reaction would be to have the child removed from Kindergarten, due to developmental and behavioral unreadiness, and placed in an acceptable pre-K program.

I am ready to say that I hold the mother responsible here, 100%
No question.

Again, Speller95, I am not a no-spanking purist.
But I do have to say that your views seem to be skewed, if not very skewed, by your upbringing.