Spanking Consequences?

 crikeymum.blogspot.com/2010/06/spanking-consequences.html

mUm: 

Michael if you stand on the couch again, you are asking mUm to hold you! 

Michael: 

of course not only stands, but jumps on the couch.

mUm: 

Michael, I don't want to hold you, but because you stood on the couch, you are asking mUm to hold you

I then hold Michael on his lower arms, down by his side, facing me, looking him in the eyes reiterating why I am holding him. 

After a few seconds of giving me the 'I'm sorry mUm' look, he squirms, so I give him a hug, tell him I love him, and send him on his merry way.

This may sound like some 'airy fairy' style of discipline, but I'll swear to the moon and back that it's a bloody brilliant spanking alternative developed by the Baby Whisperer from Save Our Sleep. 

Michael learns that the consequences of his actions are his own, that he is purely responsible for them. It's not mUm or dAd's fault!

But, before I became a mUm, I was absolutely pro-spanking, and felt that, if my sister and I turned out alright, and were spanked, then of course, Michael and Alena, if warranted, would also be spanked. 

However, the difference between talking about what kind of mUm you will be, and then actually being a mUm in those situations, is impossible to define. What is definite is that you have to do what works for you and your child, what you can walk away from feeling comfortable that you did the right thing in teaching your child consequences.

I'm absolutely not a parenting expert to the masses, but for MY child, the only time Michael gets a spanking is if his behavior could lead to serious harm, or worse! This why I love the holding technique, because, he knows that being held means that he has done something wrong, but being spanked, means that what he has done is dangerous. 

I want him to understand this significant difference, because really, in my opinion, I don't want him to be spanked for spilling a glass of milk, and, in the same instance be spanked for running onto the road.

While my decision of discipline is my own, of course, it's hard to not think about the pressure to NOT spank your child, or should I say FEAR, that if you do, Child Services will be knocking on your door, and understandably, because, children are innocent little creatures under our guiding palm.

What do you think, mUm's of little or big ones? Are you comfortable in spanking if it is warranted, or, do you have a brilliant non-spanking technique to share? 



Crikey!

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