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August 04, 2005
How Do You Explain Spanking?...
by flowermama
How do you explain spanking to a child who has never been spanked and who has never seen another child being spanked?
My four year old daughter had just taken her bath tonight, and she came into the room with blackberry juice all over her little hands. She walked over to me and sweetly told me she was being very careful not to get her shirt dirty.
I gave a startled look at her messy hands and reminded her she wasn't supposed to eat berries after she took her bath, and I quickly got up and asked her to wash herself off.
My mother was visiting here tonight, so she helped her granddaughter wash her hands off at the kitchen sink. While my mom washed her, she told her that her mother (my grandma) also had made rules about what her and her siblings could do after they took their bath. She explained that one rule was that they weren't allowed to go outside and play after their baths.
She shared the story about the time when she was a little girl, and she remembered her and her four other siblings following their brother outside and playing. It was the only time she remembers being spanked by her mother.
Their mother got a switch (and what is that? -- a small branch from a tree), and she spanked each of them on their bottom as they went through the door coming inside.
But it dawned on me, would my little girl know what a spanking is? When asked she said she did not. My mom explained that it was when a parent spanks their child to help teach them. But still, then, what is a spank? It's when they hit their child in order to help teach them something (one reason among others).
My daughter didn't really respond other than to say, "Oh," so I'm not sure what she really thought or if she really understood. My son explained that mama would not spank her. Praise God for His grace. Praise God for gently teaching me that I do not have to spank/hit -- that I should not spank/hit -- my children in order to help them learn, or for any other reason.
Posted by flowermama at August 4, 2005 10:28 PM
Comments
I remember the look of shock on my six-year-old's face when I explained to him what spanking is.
Posted by: Carol at August 27, 2005 06:02 AM
