At what time does parental discipline become abusive and who should ma

[kvnchrist]

At what time does parental discipline become abusive and who should make the call?

 

For a long time I have heard the argument that the government has been encroaching on the rights of parents to disciple their children, and have actively sought to take rights from parents. I was wondering if that was just a paranoid reaction or a valid point that needs addressed.

 

Are the rise in criminal acts a direct consequence of the government overstepping their boundaries. Is the lack of parental attention or just lack of the skills necessary to parent their kids?

[DeadMansFist849]

Well, I'm going to get called all sorts of horrible things for this, but I definitely do not think hitting children is good discipline. Even if it didn't harm specific people, there are those who aren't better people as a result. I think it just teaches kids that violence is the answer.

[McclaudEagle]

To be honest, hitting a child is never a good thing and it can sometimes breed resentment. I personally think it's better to explain why something is wrong rather than to simply shout or hit the child for doing it. Hitting and shouting won't do much in the long run, but if the child is told why something is wrong, then at least it has no excuse when it does it again.

[myrmaad]

Would you please site valid statistics for the "rise in criminal acts"?

 

This does not support that claim. (I'm a cspan junkie and just saw this on Friday.)

 

Supporting documents.

 

Or watch for yourself:

http://www.c-span.org/Events/Washington-Journal-for-Friday-August-26/10737423711-4/

[Ghogiel]

The murder and violent crime in my hometown of Baltimore are quite a bit down from my days in there.

[HeyYou]

Crime is indeed on the rise. Seems the FBI disagrees with the justice department......

 

There is a BIG difference between "abuse", and "discipline". For hundreds of years, corporal punishment was accepted, and in widespread use. Then, suddenly, it was 'abuse', and raising your hand to your child could get your children taken away, and potentially put you in jail. But, seems some folks equated spanking, with beating kids half to death, and that was just bad. Of course, it's only a part of a larger problem. The whole "can't let them fail" mindset that has developed on the US in the last decade or so, is what I consider to be one of the biggest problems we have with our education system today. Teachers have no authority, and the way laws/school financing is set up, it is in the school administrations best interests to pass children along, even though they really don't meet the requirements for promotion to the next grade.

 

The government wants to stick their nose into every aspect of its citizens lives. This is just another instance thereof. Used to be, communities would address issues such as this. Not so any more. Too bad.

[kvnchrist]

Validity is relative to the observer. I could Google up several sources to refute any finding by any one group and find a hundred people who would think each finding as valid as the next group.

 

What matters is perception, since that will be what people believe. If you would look at figure 12 on that pdf file you linked to that proves my point. If these statistics come from The Justice Department as HeyYouy stated I wouldn't put very much trust in them.

 

I've heard talk that there have been studies claiming an overwhelming number of convicts were spanked as a child, which gives the perception that the discipline they received as a child turned them to a life of crime. Though I've never seen any study outside the criminal system along the same lines.

 

One group says spanking is abuse and the other side says, "Spare the rod, spoil the child". Both sides look at the world around them, pick out the statistics they want to use and then claim that as proof.

 

I'm not interested in how many so-called scientific studies can be found. I'm interested in what people think, personally. I'd rather hear what A dyed in the wool liberal, who has experience under their belt, than some aloof bureaucrat correlating data for political expedience. I don't trust government. No government. I couldn't care less if it is ran by a Democrat or a Republican.

[myrmaad]

I'm sorry, but the FBI's own press release confirms falling crime rates.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/may/crimes_052311/crime_052311

 

You can google anything on the internet, it's true, you need to know how to determine credible sources.

[bben46]

@kvnchrist: Here is my favorite example of what you can do with actual statistics without lying at all.

http://sites.google.com/site/pocketdimension42/dta-gallery-1/dta---the-essay

 

Whenever anyone says that their statistics 'prove' something beyond any shadow of a doubt, I think of this. :thumbsup:

[Aurielius]

@kvnchrist: Here is my favorite example of what you can do with actual statistics without lying at all.

http://sites.google.com/site/pocketdimension42/dta-gallery-1/dta---the-essay

 

Whenever anyone says that their statistics 'prove' something beyond any shadow of a doubt, I think of this. :thumbsup:

Obviously we need to launch a War on Tomatoes :whistling: