Parenting is full of a wide-range of topics that are subject to debate. One particularly popular subject of argument is how to discipline; specifically, parents who choose to spank their children versus parents who don’t.
Sage Penn, who writes at the blog “Scary Mommy” is one such person. Before she had children, she was an avid believer in using other methods of disciple rather than spanking. She regularly disagreed with her sister-in-law, who spanked her children, and sent her studies, books and articles that spoke of how damaging spanking could be to a child.
Penn describes herself as having had an introverted personality before becoming pregnant. During her pregnancy, however, spanking became a topic that caused her to speak out regularly. She vowed to others that she would never spank her own child. When her son was born, however, Penn changed her mind.
Penn’s son is incredibly strong-willed and other discipline techniques that she applied had no effect on him. She tried talking with him, which made him laugh; putting him in time-out, where he stuck his tongue out at her; and praising his good behavior, which he immediately turned into bad behavior upon receiving the praise.
One day, he slapped her across the face. Penn knew that something had to change. She calmly pulled down her son’s pants, spanked him and then cuddled and talked with him afterward. At first her son screamed, but she was surprised at how quickly he got over the incident.
While her son is still strong-willed, he now thinks twice before making a poor choice. Penn admits that her thoughts on spanking were wrong and realizes that it may be the only option that some parents have.