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There are so many parents who use corporal punishment believing it is the only thing that works, or that they were spanked when they were a kid and are fine because of it. The ironic thing of it is that even the military has "officially" claimed they no longer use corporal punishment on new recruits; though I have friends who were recently in the military who said they were choked slammed by their DI's while in boot camp.

The real question is: How often is spanking appropriate for the bad behavior? What type of behavior that a child is participating in deserves a hit as a way to "teach them a lesson?"

The act of spanking is in part a lazy tool for parents to use. If the parent is doing their job as a parent, their child would not be running into the road at the age of two, or sticking their fingers in a light socket, or throwing glass vases around the house. Childproofing when a baby is first born eliminates almost all problems that a toddler could get spanked over. Having a watchful eye keeps children out of the road. Speaking respectfully and kindly to a toddler as they grow up encourages kind respectful behavior as they age.

So why do so many parents need to hit their children to make them "learn a lesson?" Because these parents do not have the proper parenting tools to teach their children any other way. There are three types of personalities: The easy going child, the middle of the road child, and the strong willed child. Children with an easy going temperament rarely have to be spanked even if their parents believe in spanking. They obey parents regardless of how poor the parenting skills are. Easy going children do not test their parents to make sure they mean what they are saying and they aim to please the parents because they have a strong desire to do so.

Middle of the road children is somewhat compliant, yet they do test from time to time to make sure their parents mean what they say. These children do not get into trouble all the time, but occasionally will do something they have been told not to do, just to see what will happen. If they find that their parents are full of hot air and won't follow through on their punishment threats, they will often test more just to see what they can get away with, but with a desire to please their parents and gain approval they do not test everything frequently.

Strong willed children will test everything multiple times and have very little desire to please their parents. It's not that strong willed children don't

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