i have never smacked my children, nor will i ever. i just think for our family it doesn't fit. I really believe that violence begets violence and i see smacking as a form of violence - this is just my belief for my family. My kids are really happy, polite, respectful, easy going kids, we do use consequences for behaviour that are clear and rely on the children's choices. we really focus on the positive stuff they do to encourage them to continue that behaviour and ignore or use natural consequences for unacceptable behaviour in our home. we lead by example and are really very happy in our choice not to use punitive punishment. i was very severely beaten as a child, by both parents, and although this was at the very extreme just couldn't imagine ever laying a hand on someone ever.

I had a discussion, actually, last week with josh (12), he saw something on a tv show about smacking children. He was absolutely horrified. I realised he actually had no idea that alot of parents smack their children as a form of discipline. Actually he wouldn't believe me for quite some time. I went through the names of some people we know that have smacked their children and he was just flabbagasted by it. I really hadn't thought about discussing other people's parenting styles with him before and realised he really had no clue that this was a lot of people's choice. His easy 12 year old answer to it "well it's just wrong, it should be against the law" - hmmm if only it was that easy hey.
with respect to all
beckles