Should parents/guardians hit their children?

[Teyauna.]

It's fine as long as it's not actually abusive. There's a difference between disciplining your child and abusing them, and it's sad that currently parents are scared to discipline their own children, and so they grow up to be the little [bad word]s that you see all over the place.

Yea. If it's abuse and it happens often, for no reason, it should be banned. But if it's for displinary reasons, it's fine, as long as it's not over the top.

Well in South Africa a parent is not allowed to implement any form of physical punishment on a child or it is seen as child abuse.

I personally don't agree. Look like everything in life there has to be a limit, beating your child with a stick or a belt is totally not on and that to me is a criminal offense and any parent who does that, in my view, should burn in hell. However, I do feel that there is no better way to teach your child discipline when they are young by giving him or her a good old spank here and there.

Also after a certain age, say from around 13, parents should not use this method any longer as it can crush a childs developing personality.

Well, I am all for it. My mom beats me, my dad does too. My mom said she's actually glad her mom beat her because it taught her a lot of lessons, that helped her in life today. You might not like it now, but later on in life, it'll help.

My sister is 16, she used to get beats at 14, 15, she's fine. Developing personality? Foolishness. I am fine and I get beats. I'm 13 going on 14 next year, it just teaches me discipline and wrong from right. It teaches me what happens when you do something wrong, the consequences of my actions.

yeah, if neccessary it should be allowed for a parent to throttle their child until it behaves.

As long as it's not abuse.

[Frodo13.]

^^

Exactly. Many parents say they have tried not hitting their children, but it doesn't work. Who knows, I may smack my children if nothing else works, I certainly won't whip them like my father has been known to do to me.

[Hitman]

If I did something really bad, I'd get a smacked bottom. It's a place it doesn't hurt in the long run and teaches the child. Now I'm almost as big as my dad, we argue but if he tried to smack my bum (which he doesn't now only when I was 5 - 8?) I'd just punch him.

That was only if I did something really bad.

[Grimmauld]

lol my parents beat me before but now they dont as it taught me the lesson needed already so yea id hit my children lol but not to the limit where theyre dead

[Lycan]

I woudn't, being smacked when i was a child really didn't do anything other then make my relationship with my dad more distent