Don't use corporal punishment, or your child might grow up to be an upstanding citizen

     When I was little and I did something wrong, I would get a spanking for it (depending on the severity of my wrongdoing). I was terrified of spankings. They certainly put the healthy fear of both God and my mother into me. Now people tell me that spanking is abuse and that children who were spanked when they were young will grow up to be insecure and violent. Is that really the vibe I give off? Not to mention, apparently these children will never forgive their parents for administering that kind of punishment. Either I'm totally incredible and I've somehow escaped my traumatic childhood unscathed, or someone is wrong about something. First of all, I love my mom. Let me tell ya, she's an awesome woman, and I love being with her. I went to dinner with her last night. I love going up to my parent's house on weekends so I can hang out with her and my dad. I love my parents, I love my mom. Yeah, I'm insecure, but so is every other teen-aged human on earth, and as for violence...what?! I remember a girl in my sixth grade class making fun of me because I wasn't allowed to watch a certain R rated movie that she loved. She said, "My mom is cool, she lets me do whatever I want." I remember my sixth grade self being almost dumbstruck. In my mind her words translated to "My mom doesn't care about me, she's so cool." I couldn't understand it, and to an extent I still can't understand it, though I'll give those parents a bit more credit than I used to because I know that most of them to genuinely love their children whether or not I agree with their method of parenting. I just know that ever since I was little, the children who always bragged about never being spanked were generally the ones who I had vowed never to be like. They fought openly with teachers, and had little respect for either authority or their own peers. I'm not trying to pick a fight or tell people how to raise their children because I'm not there yet and I have no experience that might allow me to give such advice, but I will say that I was given physical punishment as a child, and I truly am thankful to my parents. If I knew that my bottom wasn't going to be a little sore if I ever did anything wrong, I'm pretty sure I would be quite the delinquent at this point in my life. There is absolutely a difference between abuse and corporal punishment. I was never abused, I was firmly corrected. There is so much more that can be said on the topic, but that's what I'll leave you with for now. Just know that I do firmly believe that parents should love their children and that love and correction go hand in hand.
Farewell, readers.