By now the mommy wars have pretty much gotten us nowhere except to the realization that some parents spank their kids and some parents do not spank their kids. But now I'm going to throw a little monkey wrench in there: how about the parents who let other people spank their kids? Say the parents who let people at their kids' school spank their kids?
Is that OK? Are you sure? Because the mother of an 11-year-old girl who was spanked at school ended up filing a police report and taking the child to the hospital after she got the paddling of her life.
Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would say "yes" to letting someone else spank your kid, doesn't it? Even a school?
Oh I know, I know, there is a difference between child abuse and a corrective swat on the tush. That's what they all say. That's what Tekicia Yancie probably thought when daughter Jordyn's school called and told her Jordyn could opt for some old-fashioned butt smacking or a three-day suspension.
Yancie decided she didn't want her kid out of class for that long, so she went with the in-school spanking. And then her kid ended up missing school for days on end anyway because her injuries were so severe. As the little girl said:
When I got paddled, it felt like he was hitting me with something else because it really hurt. I told him that he was hitting me hard. And, when I got finished being paddled, I ran in the corner and started crying.
I hate to say I told you so, but … wait, no, I don't. I feel badly that a little girl was hurt, but something has to wake parents up here. It's time we face the reality of corporal punishment in America: there is no perfect way to hit kids.
Think about it: if people who are trained to work with kids don't know where the line is between the aforementioned corrective swat on the tush and child abuse, who does? Is there really anyone we can trust using corporal punishment on our kids?
I know parents who wouldn't dream of laying a hand on their own kids who still seem to cling to the idea that schools should keep corporal punishment as a discipline technique. Maybe it's because they don't like getting their hands dirty; perhaps it's because they see school administrators as "experts" in child development.
Regardless, it's time it stops. Schools aren't any better than parents at spanking kids. The minute you decide to raise a hand to a child, no matter your "expertise," you are running the same risks as anyone else of hurting a child physically and emotionally.
And while the black and blue marks on little Jordyn Booth's behind will heal, the memory of crying in a corner after being paddled by someone she trusted will never completely go away.
Would you let someone at your kid's school spank them?
Image via szapucki/Flickr
