by Emelia Arlington

Created on: April 22, 2008

That is a question that since moving to the US has popped up time after time never with a comfortable or unanimous answer. I remember once in a high school literature class while discussing a famous literary work the argument of spanking children was broached. I had only been here for two years and this was my first experience living around people not of my cultural background. I remember seeing it fine that the character and slapped his child for blatant disobedience and feeling more than a little odd that my teacher along with many other classmates stated and I quote "Slapping your child is an immoral thing to do and by no means do intelligent people do that. It is wrong." I was a bit put off because she had just implied that my mother a successful professional, my father, also a successful professional my sister who went to a great college on a full scholarship and me who was ranking 2nd in a class of 27 unintelligent. Not to mention our parents who from very little and by sheer cleverness got us to where we were.

I never held this against my teacher and neither did I point out her folly. It wasn't worth it.I did have a bit to say to countless numbers of my classmates who wanted to know why I was the only one not participating in the outcry against spanking.

I was raised in a culture that believed a good child could not be raised without the good spanking upon a big instance of disobedience or a small one that kept happening too often. In my country the laws on spanking your child were completely ignored by all. A child belonged to a parent and if that parent felt a need to take that child out of the world, the fact that the parent had brought him in gave them the right to. While I don't agree completely with this logic I do agree that spanking when used in moderation and with love is crucial to childrearing.

Children should not be able to report their parents for spanking s a means of discipline. A parent has a right and obligation to keep their child in line and tough love is a perfectly viable method. I can honestly say that I would not have been the person I am today had it not been for the knowledge that if I didn't do what I was supposed to I would have the belt to face. Many might argue that speaking works just as well. It doesn't. My mother spoke softly, loudly, understandingly, threateningly and even tried reverse psychology every now and again yet in quite a few cases I never let go off my delinquent ways until she took the belt to me. Aunts, uncles

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