Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin
That's your culture. Your background gives you very specific values and beliefs about child rearing. Those values and beliefs are not universally shared. Some people think that if you don't use corporal punishment, you are a poor parent and different cultures have widely different ideas about the proper way to raise a child.
Because Dr. Spock published his book and you agree with him doesn't make your culture and background more relevant or correct than others.
I try to have an open mind when working child abuse cases. I'm not sure any of us want to live in a country where the government comes into everyone's home and threatens potential criminal action for anyone who doesn't follow the government's plan for child rearing.
We shouldn't be in the business of punishing parents unless it is readily apparent that the parent's intent in hitting the child was to be cruel, to torture, etc.
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It certainly was
not the culture in which I was raised, which is perhaps why I am so against hitting a child - I remember those punishments vividly.
Again I ask, why is it against the law for me to hit you or an animal, yet okay to hit a defenseless child 1/4 or even half my size as long as my intent wasn't to be "cruel". How is hitting a 3-year old
not cruel?