Do parents take a belt (spankings) to their kids anymore?

I never knew anyone who was beaten with a belt or anything else while I was growing up; I never knew anyone who beat his kids while I was an active parent and I know no one now who beats his kids or grandkids.

That is, of course, my personal experience and doesn’t extrapolate into anyone else’s world.

My dad has large belt strap scars on his lower back, so I would hope not. It’s abuse, not discipline.

I hope not.

Hopefully not. And I agree that it’s abuse.

My dad was whipped with a belt when he was a kid. Both of my parents were spanked. Thank God they decided not to pass that on to me and my siblings.

This used to be acceptable, it’s now considered child abuse, at least in NY state. Anything other than an open hand is considered abuse, as it should be.

Not in this economy.

Why waste a perfectly good spanking on a child when there are rich business people willing to pay good money for one. Be smart, save the spanking for the dungeon and make a few bucks on the side!

Yes.

And, to me a belt is not a spanking. A belt is a whipping.

In schools around me they still paddle kids and leave welts sometimes. I would assume the parents who allow that are using more than a hand on their children.

I, like @gailcalled, never heard of anything like this growing up. It wasn’t until I moved to the south that I hear such things still going on, or have peers who were disciplined like this as children.

I know a lot that do.

Lol, the belt, I’ve been put to the belt and worse. I know people who still do put their kids to the belt.

Yes, some parents do. Luckily in many states the use of an item while hitting a child is considered child abuse.

My kids are almost 40 and have kids of their own. I can only remember one or two incidents where I used my belt and then it was a very light stroke. I needed for effect, not to cause pain.

I doubt that my kids ever did that. I have seen my oldest take a swing at her oldest with a ruler as she was running by but that was just gesture no real intent to cause pain.

I remember doing a lot of lectures and a good bit of yelling but very seldom resorted to corporal punishment.

Yes; it’s sad to say that there will always be parents who abuse their children.

I simply and politely ask my kids to behave and they do. I have a whistle like the Von Trapp father in the Sound of Music and they line up and march.

http://beafunmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Captain-von-Trapp-whistle.jpg

Ya, right. I wish.

My parents did that three or four times while I was growing up, but when parents do it now, they can be jailed for abuse.

If there are any of these dinosaurs still in existence, then they need poking with a stick, preferably tipped with a medium sized turd…..for “seasoning”

Yes. And more. And worse.

My parents did.
I heard somewhere that it is illegal now.

I sincerely hope not. That’s not discipline, that’s child abuse, and there’s absolutely no excuse for that.

In NZ it is illegal now to hit a child.

I have 3 very rambunctious children and I can quite confidently say that there is nothing a child can do that would deserve a beating with a belt. You can teach them responsibility and being respectful in so many other (better) ways.

I was beaten with a 1×1 stick over stupid crap like messing up the folded laundry basket when I needed to grab clean clothes. That kind of behaviour is reprehensible. If I ever saw it happen in front of me I’d tackle the asshole wielding the belt and rip it out of his/her hand.

I got the belt. And the hanger. And the spoon. And the switch. And anything else handy. And I do know parents who still spank their kids. Not with a belt or anything, but the kids do get spankings.

@LezboPirate: Would you be comfortable telling us, briefly, how those experiences made you feel? The list of ways in which you were beaten is horrifying to me.

In Holland it is punishable by law to hit people, including your children. Especially children. Whether you use your hand, a belt, or a hammer is only relevant for the level of punishment you qualify for.

I – for one – am happy it is.

Some still do. And it sucks. When your kids fuck up, you gotta explain to them how and why they fucked up, not beat the shit out of them. I remember when I was a kid moving in with my dad, I went out to explore the neighborhood. I met a girl named Amanda, and we couldn’t even communicate because I only spoke French and she English. But I got the idea that she wanted to invite me over, so we went to her place. We went in the apartment block, and her mom busted out the door before we were even there and smacked her in the face with a belt like five times, dragged her in, said something to me and slammed the door.
This shit happens, and it sucks.

I have worked with people from the Caribbean, and from what they tell me, parents there (Jamaica, Haiti, etc) do this to this day.

I don’t think it’s legal in the UK to spank a child with anything more than a bare open hand. Even that, I feel is bordering on physical abuse. Why on earth, in a civillised society, is it acceptable to hit a toddler but not an adult?

My husband thinks it is perfectly OK for the kids to be a bit afraid of him. He said he will take fear if they can’t show respect. He doesn’t hit them with a belt, but he will grab and slap and yell and it works. The kids are afraid of him.

My youngest has been a bit of a problem when it comes to discipline. He doesn’t listen to what you tell him. He seems to need to learn everything for himself. I decided to give him some space rather than try to discipline him all the time and expect some burned skin, broken bones etc and my job was then was to stop yelling all the time (that is exhausting) and just mange the damage and hopefully minimise any permanent damage. When he was 6 he climbed up onto the roof of our two story house from out his bedroom window. He couldn’t understand why we were upset and angry about it. He couldn’t understand that is was dangerous. He didn’t know it was against the house rules. No, he did not get a smack for climbing up on the roof.

My mother’s weapon of choice was a wooden spoon. She broke one over my butt once. I do not remember those spankings as posing any sort of deterrent to my behaviour.

I second what my sister said.
The belt. The spoon, The shoe. And a ping pong paddle once, by the neighbor. I was like “Bitch, you don’t know me like that!”

It really pissed me off when my father came into our room late at night one day, and said “Who was talking? If you tell the truth, you won’t get a spanking.”
So I told the truth. “Justin, Morgan, and I”.
Then guess what happened! I got spanked anyways!
Never forgiving him for that. >:|