Why I am Arguing This

(Personal Perspective: 551 words)

I knew from the bat when given this assignment that I wanted to write about something related to parenting. I was not sure exactly what to write about until I was talking to my grandpa about how he was raised. My grandpa Joe was the oldest of 12 other siblings in a big Italian family. He was talking about how his youngest brother was spoiled and never got the whooping like everyone else did. Now, his youngest brother is living off of welfare and never went to college.  In other words, my grandpa explained that the whooping must have done something right, because he and his other siblings turned out to be pretty successful compared to their youngest brother. Eventually, we really got into the topic of Corporal Punishment since I am against it and he is not. I realized that it was a perfect topic for me to write about. For two other reasons, I feel strongly about arguing against corporal punishment.

First off, like I said, I am a parent, so I could not imagine writing about anything that was not related to parenting. Plus, since it is a 24/7 job, it is kind of all I really know. Never in my life did I think I would have a kid at a younger age than most, but I did. Because of this, I constantly get criticized. Of course, shows like “Teen Mom” make it worse because it makes people like me look bad. On top of that, I am about to be twenty but I look like I am fifteen years old. Either way, I am not ashamed at all, I am very thankful!  Whether I get advice from daily e-mails, magazines, or my daughter’s pediatrician, corporal punishment is always a huge topic.  I do not think this topic would be everywhere unless it is as important as it is. I feel like if I am going to blog about something, it should be something I could relate to, and learn from along the way. Never in my life could I ever put my hands on my daughter, but doing all of this research has definitely made me feel stronger about that decision. Hitting a kid, or anyone for that matter, is just a bad way of solving problems.

Second, I feel like a part of why people use corporal punishment to discipline their kids is because they are not educated about what it really does. The purpose of me writing this blog is to convince parents that may not agree yet, that they should not get physical when teaching their kids. I have friends who tell me that my daughter is never going to listen to me if I do not hit her. I have people tell me that she will not know I am her mother if I do not hit her. I find all of those comments absurd. Of course people are going to say that because for so long, that was the way every parent raised their kid.
At the end of this blog, my goal is to convince parents to keep their hands off of their kids, even if it is just a tap on their hands. I am not saying parents must praise their kids, and treat them like Kings and Queens either though. I am saying that there needs to be boundaries.