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DEL.ICIO.USShould employees, kids be spanked?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Recently a California jury awarded $1.7 million to a woman who was paddled on her rear-end during team-building exercises conducted by the company she worked for.
According to the Associated Press, a 12-person jury equally divided between men and women, found that Janet Orlando, 53, of Fresno, who worked for Alarm One, Inc., a home security company had suffered both sexual harassment and sexual battery, from the 2004 spanking she received in front of her peers.
Sales teams at the company were asked to compete with one another and the losers suffered several humiliations, including being spanked with signs from their competitors.
Many people may find it humorous or abhorrent that an employer would spank their employees’ under any circumstance. However, many people still think that spanking their children is okay.
Some proponents of spanking their offspring cite that the Bible says to “spare the rod and spoil the child” and use this as the basis for justifying corporal punishment.
The Reverend Arthur Allen Jr. of the Atlanta based House of Prayer preferred serving jail time rather than to renege on his strong belief that the children of his congregation should receive corporal punishment, administered by Allen.
However, there are those equally opposed to hitting children under any circumstance. They cite numerous psychological studies that purport that hitting children only teaches them that violence is okay. Moreover, they believe that spanking children reinforces that physical dominance against those smaller and weaker is desirable.
Many opponents of spanking believe that instead of spanking, that children should be taught how to control their emotions and make wise choices for their lives.
The Center for Effective Discipline, based in Columbus, Ohio, features on its home page ( www.stophitting.com) a poignant quote by the late pediatrician and best-selling author Dr. Benjamin Spock:
“If we are ever to turn toward a kindlier society and a safer world, a revulsion against the physical punishment of children would be a good place to start.”
When I was growing up, my mother did spank my brothers and me on occasion — and we all survived. However, I think that my mother used spanking not because she enjoyed beating us; but because — like many parents of her generation — spanking was mostly all that they had in their parental tool box to address any unruly behavior of their children.
If my mother had been aware of “time out” and “groundings” and other methods to redirect misbehavior, she would have preferred (for her sake and ours) alternative methods of correction. Like many people often say, “you do better, when you know better.”
Our homes and workplaces are the two pillars of most people’s lives. I think that these places should be free of physical and emotional violence.
For me, there can never be any justification for hitting in the workplace.
Moreover, I think today’s parents should focus more on modeling good behavior for their children; than on spanking.
Do you think there any situations that may require hitting someone in the workplace?
Should parents ever spank misbehaving children?
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Beni Dakar
Comments
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By Joe Camp
May 30, 2006 08:54 AM | Link to this
In business, it is NEVER appropriate to touch any employee inappropriately. Hand shakes are about all the touching that should ever happen aside from the Heimlich or CPR during workplace medical emergencies. Too often, “team building” excercises are silly and pointless…sometimes an extension of someone’s fraternity days. Appropriate team building activities, if they must be outside the professional sphere, should be an activity whereby the employees are forced to work together as a cohesive unit. For example, a rafting trip down the Nantahalla River. If they don’t work together, ther raft flips and everyone gets cold and wet.
Spanking of children is a different matter. I believe that it is perfectly apppropriate to use spanking as a disciplinary measure. A little discipline goes a long way. As a father, however, I have never spanked any of my three girls. I have never needed to. Disobedience or disrespect is swiftly addressed with a verbal reprimand and a timeout…anywhere and anytime and in the same way with the same rationale- every time. I do not tolerate the tests of authority and “pushing the limit” of rules that fuel misbehavior. I have seen parents whose lenience was pushed to the point where the child was out-of-control and in such instances, spanking may be required. For example, if a child is permitted to disrespect parents in the home or out in public without immediate reprimand, this behavior will become ingrained- and repeated. If this child began to disrespect his peers or his teacher with an ingrained attitude towards others, he will only resent and reject punishments such as “time-outs” or “grounding”. In this example, the behavior would best be corrected with an IMMEDIATE spanking- every time he acts in disrespect, i.e. he backtalks the teacher = parent goes to school immediately armed with a paddle.
In the workplace or at home, everyone must be treated with dignity and respect- that is the basis of leadership, whether a parent or a manager. Respect for self, respect for others (manners), and respect for the rules (law) is the glue that holds our society together. Children must be taught this from an early age with corrective punishment -even spanking- employed in parenting. If we do not, then our children will grow up and disrespect people, perhaps even dream up some revolting workplace “motivator” like mock spankings. Even worse, if your child grows up and flouts the law and in turns flouts the police officer that responds to his unlawfullness, rest assured that he could face far worse than a paddling.
By Jim
May 30, 2006 09:03 AM | Link to this
If anyone at work ever hits or touches me, I’m going directly to HR and if it is not rectified immediately, I will end up being a very rich retired former employee.
By Wildly Rich
May 30, 2006 09:55 AM | Link to this
Jim, I agree with you wholeheartedly. If anyone hits me at work, regardless of who it is; I am raising cane. I hope that my work setting would in no way condone any abusive behavior from managers, other workers, visitors, vendors, etc.
As far as popping kids, I think that adults should use other more effective strategies to ensure good behavior. Often times, by setting good boundaries and showing children how to behave can help mitigate issues that may provoke a spanking.
Lot’s of times adults inspire bad behaviors of children, by being inconsistent in sharing with their kids what are appropriate behaviors. Most children’s behavior reflect on how well parents model good behavior and also how well parents nip annoying and bad behaviors in the bud, when the first start.
By MDD
May 30, 2006 12:22 PM | Link to this
If an employer even had a thought about spanking me, it’s on! Not at any time should an employer consider hitting or spanking in this instance one of their employees. As far as spanking our children, other methods can be employed to correct or displine our children, and spanking is not one of them!
By No More Violence
May 31, 2006 06:42 AM | Link to this
No more violence, NOW!
By Van
May 31, 2006 08:28 AM | Link to this
Spanking is an age old, time honored way of disciplining children. Adults on the other hand should never be spanked, unless it is their “kink”.
While, in my day, a college dorm prank might have involved spanking or paddleing, that was a voluntary ritual of passage.
At work, we are there to do our jobs, this type of behaviour is totally unacceptable in a professional setting.
By No More Violence
May 31, 2006 03:17 PM | Link to this
Okay Van, you can beat your kids and beat your kinky lover; but under no circumstances can you beat anyone at work. This one surely “beats” me.
By Van
May 31, 2006 03:23 PM | Link to this
No More Violence,
Oh, I see. A spanking is the same as a beating. So sad, so blind, so twisted.
If you sexual preference involves spanking, who am I to enter your bedroom and tell you no.
So, what is you problem with disicplining children, I lived through it 50 years ago, my kids lived through it 20 years ago. The new and improved method has been a dismal failure in rearing children.
My children learned not to talk back to be, they learned where and what their limits were, and they are both well adjusted, college graduated and gainfully employeed conservatives.
By No More Violence
June 2, 2006 07:53 PM | Link to this
Chidren can learn to be mannerable and well adjusted adults without spanking.
Human beings have the capacity to reason with one another and can lead their children and others by good example.
No hitting please! And, while you are at it; no yelling, bullying, or emotional and mental abuse too.
Let’s all be nicer to ourselves and each other; starting NOW!
By Tim
June 4, 2006 03:45 PM | Link to this
Try to spank me at work, yes, a lawsuit is on the horizon.
Spanking the kids? I’ll tell you what, when I was a kid, one of the things that kept me out of trouble was knowing that if I did something that I knew was going to get me spanked by my old man, that was enought to scare me not to do it. Had I thought I might have to spend some time in “time out”, big whoop, take a nap, go back out and play. I could tolerate being grounded or put in time out, but getting whooped by the old man! DIFFERENT STORY!!
I wonder how many kids would not be into the things they are into these days if they knew they were subject to being popped in the butt a couple times when the y get busted instead of this mamby-pamby time out thing?
Oh, for the good ol’ days…..
By D
June 4, 2006 05:17 PM | Link to this
Public corporal punishment would control a lot of issues we have. We would need a lot fewer jail cells and save tax payers a boatload of money. As far as the workplace — there is no place for spankings — fun or otherwise at work.
By Jennifer
June 6, 2006 03:11 PM | Link to this
I used to work for the most perverted man with lady hands who talked about spanking the office girls. It was laughable because he was such a tiny man. Part of me wishes he would have tried it with me so I could have knocked his rat teeth out. I don’t think spanking or the threat of physical violence has any place in the workforce. You never know what you are going to get when you cross the line into physical altercations with someone! I’m not a big girl but I would lose my mind if someone put their hands on me!
By Van
June 7, 2006 04:06 PM | Link to this
No More Violence,
You are a naive young person with no real world experience.
Children need structure and limits. Until they are old enough to reason with (sometimes that isn’t until adulthood), the open palm on their backside is a normal acceptable method of discipline and punishment.
As I always told my kids, and my mother told me, during a temper tantrum, “If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about”. It worked because the threat was backed up with action. I pity the poor parents that are trying to talk nice and reason with a screaming two year old.