Cincinnati Man Spanks Son Over Poor Video Gaming

It is sad that more people don't appear outraged by this father's actions. If an adult (chronilogically speaking) would hit a child hard enough to leave hand prints, what will the punishment be for something more serious? This is scary. You don't teach children anything by hitting them EXCEPT to avoid the abuser. The police were correct to charge this as abuse.
Peace.

Ok that's just ridiculous to spank your kid for not doing well at a video game, come on! The only reason a child should be spanked is if they are not listening to you. There is a huge difference between spanking a child for discipline and beating them! Spanking your child tells them not to do something. You are protecting your child from being harmed from the dangers of the outside world. I always give my son a time out if he's not behaving, and if that doesn't work, I swat him on the butt. People in this world always ruin it for other parents. This story is a good example.

It's a beating because one he spanked him for messing up on a game and two he hit him on the back.People who think this wasn't abuse are dumb.

I'd like to point out a few things. I agree that the father who spanked his child for 'bad video game playing' is a jerk. I would not even call this spanking, I would call this beating. He needs to take a course on Parenting and possibly Anger Management. That's no reason to punish a child. This type if behavior could definitely be looked at as abuse because the child did not deserve a punishment for this reason and did not deserve such a harsh one at that. The child had 'red hand prints on his back'... what was this guy thinking?

On another note, I don't think spanking should be illegal and I don't think ANYONE has the right to tell you how to discipline or raise your child. There is a BIG difference between 'spanking' and 'beating'. Aside from that, as long as you are not spanking for ridiculous reasons or doing any other type of cruel or unusual punishment people should keep their nose out of your family life.

I'd also like to point out that all children have different personalities and react differently to different types of discipline. Just like adults we all have different ways of coping with different things and all learn differently. For some children, putting them in 'time-out' or taking toys away does not work.

Anyone who has a child knows you cannot rationalize with them when you are trying to discipline them. If you think that rationalizing works with a child you are unfortunately mistaken. While it might seem to work in the beginning, all the child is learning is that they can continue to do whatever behavior they got 'a talk' about and in the future when they continue that behavior all they will get is... 'a talk'.

In some cases, the child just learns how to hide this behavior/action and learns to lie/manipulate very well to get what they want/do what they want.

Some of the above posts mentioned about how spanking a child causes them to serve prison terms or become rebellious teens... I could see how ABUSE might cause a child to become a criminal or a rebellious teen but NOT good parenting and spanking for reasonable reasons. That type of thinking is unrealistic and completely nonsensical.

The children/teens (that I have seen) that grew up without having some form of spanking hid their bad behavior from their parents, and their parents are too naive to even notice. The parents strongly believed that 'just talking' and explaining why you don't do things was a viable way of teaching consequences of your actions to children. All the child learned is that they could get away with anything if they were caught as long as they shed some alligator tears and said sorry.

Their parents talked about them like little angels and yet the teens I knew became so good at hiding things from their parents, the parents knew none-the-better. Imagine the one parent's surprise when he found out his supposed 'virgin' 15 year old daughter was pregnant and their 13 year old son was smoking pot. Reality is, a lot of the time these kids get so good at covering up that their parents never find out. Ignorance is bliss...

While that may not be all the cases (As I am sure some children are pure angels and talking to them calmly and explaining why they shouldn't do this or that might help.) that is not always the case and is not always the norm. It is very rare to have a problem free child/teen in this generation no matter how perfect you think you have raised your child.(Unless by some freak accident your child was born without having a personality and ability to make decisions on their own.)

I have a 3 year old daughter, and while I do not spank for every little thing, I do not spank to 'hurt her' or to make myself 'feel good' AND I do not spank her because I am angry. Saying that parents who spank do it to 'feel good' is asinine. The people above who were saying that are naive in that respect and trying to stereotype or cast a bad light on the parents who choose to spank. When I do spank her I do not spank her hard or 'beat' my daughter nor do I leave red hand prints. I only spank when other forms of discipline have not worked and she is not listening.

I think (in a way) spanking can prepare you for the real world. The child will associate doing something wrong with a REAL consequence. A spanking. You aren't on easy street in life. You have consequences for your actions for everything you do in life. You don't get off committing crimes by 'talking' about it. You go to jail and do your time/pay your fine. You can't go up to a guy in a bar and think you can talk crap. You will most likely get the crap beat out of you. There are a lot of other analogies I could use but I think I made my point...

Spanking is a consequence that should be used as a last resort for an appropriate reason. (Not because your kid can't help you get past a level in a video game.) And, it shouldn't be used every-time you need to punish. It will stick in a child's memory more than a simple talk would and they will associate doing something wrong with a consequence that is undesirable... Therefore they will learn they do not want to continue doing this bad behavior/ action because they know what will happen if they do and do not listen.

depends on the game

kirby's epic yarn - father made a big mistake

doom - if you can't beat a child for sucking at doom, what's the point of being a parent