[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by katex

I think, maybe, a good starter, would be to allow parents once more to give their children a slap for wrongdoings ... not many parents would overstep the mark here. Would stop lots of children from carrying on to more serious crimes ... does usually only start with cheek after all. Some children will never, ever respond to discipline in any form, but are in the minority, but the 'naughty step, taking away their materialistic items for a while' never works .. they know will get them back eventually.

I think the last few words of your post speak volumes. If a threatened punishment is not carried through then a child knows they can get away with murder. Equally if a material item is removed from them it doesn't bother them if they know they are going to get it back.

I told my girls that if they had something taken from them as a punishment they would nit get it back. I only ever had to do it once. They knew I was serious after the first time and didn't risk it again.

How many parents say "If you do that again I'll............... (whatever)" but then don't actually do the thing they say they will do. The child does 'it' again and the parent says "I mean it. Next time I'll ..............." and the child learns that the punishment never happens so they continue to misbehave.

I took a new doll from each of my daughters when they did something they had been specifically told not to do. My friend asked me when I would give the dolls back to them. I told her that I did not intend to return their dolls. They had both been warned and yet had continued to do the thing I had told them not to do. If I had given the dolls back eventually they would have got away with it. They learned that when I said a thing I meant it.

U think it's the same with the threat of corporal punishment. It wasn't so much teachers smacking children that led to discipline, but the fact that children knew that teachers could do.