If the kids have physical wounds, then yes. Corporal punishment should only inflict a negative association, pain, with undesirable behaviour e.g. missing curfews.

Call me crazy, but I got beaten tons of times as a child for being disobedient. If I’d ever violated my curfew, I’d have been belted as well, and to a similar degree.

This woman might have taken it a bit far, but I really don’t see what’s wrong with corporal punishment.

It's okay.  I've said things that have been taken the wrong way (with Kathy Thomas)  and I'm just like you – except I wouldn't let it die.  I had to have the last word, which lead to threads getting shut down.  Now, out of respect for Trench, I try to keep my bickering with the regulars to a minimum.  that's the only reason I asked you guys to squash it.  Not for me, but for Trench and for the regular readers.  The bickering is fine it if you feel you need to make a point.  Just invite Bean over to the Opeen Thread to continue it.  That's our boxing ring.

I'm not big on intervening, but here I go.  You two bring more to this sitethen you can imagine and I don't want to lose either of you as readers.  Your comments mean tons to Trench, Angel and I, as well as the other readers.  You are both vualuable.  This is about the kids and not a difference of opinions.  I'm asking both of you to, please, squash this and move on.  I think this is more of a misunderstanding than anything.  It's easy to do – I know because I've been there.  Bean, JJ – please give each other a verbal handshake.  We are all on the same side.

The worst part is they often hit their kids for being kids.  We have all been children.  We should understand that they are not perfect.  It's up to us to handle every situation we are dealt in a manner that is justified.  Beating a child with a belt is NEVER justified.

There are so many contributing factors to why parents beat their children, but the ones that seems to stick out in my mind is cowardice and cruelty. How can you ever inflict harm on someone smaller than you, that loves you, who you are suppose to protect and nurture? Sick, sick, sick!

The KMart moms do.  I've seen 'em.  They don't fuck around.  That's why black children behave better than mine in KMart.
 
Just kidding.  My uncle's black and he would never lay a hand on a child.  But I think that's more of a class thing than a rae thing.

And we can tell by this site that lots of white bitches beat their kids.  I think it's a wash.  It's typical for fuckheads of all demographics to beat their children.  I guess child abuse knows no boundaries.  Let's be honest.

True, but this type of “discipline” is still very prevelent in the black community today and not frowned upon or considered abuse.

I think Trench and April have switched logins tonight.

Spanking is different from child abuse. Spanking is a controlled swat on the bottom. It is not done in anger. Beating is grabbing any object you can find and flailing on your kid without any regard to where the blows are landing. This woman is guilty of abuse. And, if she thinks she's done nothing wrong, she at a minimum needs to go to parenting classes.

BUT… let me just say, that I'd be ticked off too if my kids were sneaking out of the house at night and I didn't know where they were and was scared half out of my mind about them. Kudo's to the girl for calling 911. But, be responsible and get your arse home when you're supposed to be there. I have no idea what the home conditions are like.

It doesnt make it right but this is how “discipline” was handled back in the day by every race, not just blacks. Even when I was a kid (and I am not that old and I am white) I was sent to school with bruises, whelps, bloody scratches and even gashes all the time from being beaten with belts, fly swatters, switches, horse whips, 2X4's and worse things. No one ever reported my family, nothing ever became of the abuse that happened in my house. People just always assumed I was a really bad kid (my parents thought so but I really wasnt, they learned their lesson when my little sister became a teenager. Wearing black shirts and listening to slayer does not make you a bad kid or a devil worshiper).

It seems to me that some people today still dont understand the difference between SPANKING and BEATING. Stop beating your kids people. There is nothing wrong with spanking, but I know from first hand experience that beating your children leads to years of problems down the road for them. It is NOT discipline and it is not acceptable for any reason. It is abuse and there is no excuse for it.

You should feel proud of your self-control, April. Heh

I agree, this is TOTALLY abuse. However, alot of black people do consider things like this discipline. You would not believe the stories that I've heard from my ex's side of the family about getting “whupped” with extension cords, belts, switches, etc. when they were younger. Now, they (some of his fam, not all) apply those “discipline” methods to their children. NEVER in front of me (I came to blows, literally, with one of his cousins for “spanking” her 2yo with a belt) and NEVER to my kids (they know better, I'm the crazy bitch that will fuck those assholes up), but I know for a fact his brother and SIL use this type of “discipline” on their kids. I called CPS a few times, but they didn't do shit about it, so I stopped calling. I don't ignore what's going on, but I don't have proof and I've never witnessed the abuse first hand, so they claim they can't do anything.