SkepticThinker
Veteran Member
Yes, there is definitely more to it than that.Congratulations.
My children are also respectful, sweet, kind, mindful and empathic adults. Probably more complicated than just "did you or did you not spank".
Spanking can and does cause psychological damage though, as do all forms of physical violence.I would say, however, that being a Nanny isn't the same as being a parent. (Not saying that parenting must include loving spanks) just that spanking doesn't equate to psychological damage (unless done wrong)
Spending all day long with the kids as a nanny means I had to discipline them at times, of course. My nephew could get quite unruly on occasion. Never did it cross my mind to lay my hands on him though. We spent a lot of time talking and walking through how he would feel if someone treated him the same way. How when we do wrong to someone, we need to apologize to the person(s) we wronged and make up for it. A little lesson on empathy can go a long way. Anyway, the rest of our conversation looked somewhat similar to what you described with you and your kids, excluding all the religious stuff, of course. I just don't think any hitting at all is necessary. And I don't think it prepares kids for "adult life" because no where in adult life is it legal to hit another adult.
At my old office I used to work at, there was this really nice woman who cleaned for us after hours and sometimes I'd get to talking to her. Like my brother-in-law,. she's from Trinidad and Tobago. I remember her telling me that her grandson often acted up by hitting or punching his little sister and she'd have to "swat him about the legs" to get him to stop. I asked her if he would stop after that, and she thought about it for a sec and said, 'No, he's just go hit his sister again." And I thought to myself, gee, I wonder why. Where on earth did he learn to use violence like that?