On Wed, 13 Oct 1999, Tasha Howe wrote:
> As a developmental psychologist who specializes in child abuse, I just
> want to mention that Murray Strauss and others have shown a strong
> relationship between tendency to spank and escalating uses of punishment
> that end up in abuse. Gerald Patterson has lots of longitudinal research
> showing that coercive families escalate into abusive families and kids
> end up with lots of behavioral and psychological problems. Spanking may
> not be as bad if it didn't involve anger, loss of control, humiliation,
> and no alternatives given for good behavior. If it occurred with lots of
> communication, caring, responsive, respectful parenting, my guess is
> that the spank itself would not be as detrimental; but families with the
> aforementioned skills rarely use spanking. I always give the example to
> my students that we don't hit our bosses, our spouses, our neighbors or
> our friends when they piss us off, so why is ok to hit a tiny person
> whose entire life depends on us?
>
you can hit your boss; but you may not have a job after this.
Michael Sylvester
Daytona Beach,Florida
