03-30-2012, 10:41 AM
Now, granted, I'm a psychologist, so you can probably guess the perspective on child-rearing that I have.... I think that striking a child out of anger only perpetuates out-of-control behavior on the part of the parent and the child in the future. I think it teaches the child that, in order to solve a problem, you use a violent tactic rather than a more civilized approach, which won't help that child get along with others in the future. I prefer different approaches, such as delivering immediate consequences (time-out, apologizing to whoever was hurt, etc.) for misbehavior & then having a simple verbal discussion with the child about why what s/he did was wrong. Etc., etc.