Well seeing as I've worked with kids all my life I like to think I'm pretty good with them, also that I'm pretty patient.
My mates kid is 6 and she is the worst child i've ever come across, her mother has let her get away with murder in the past, recently she has realised her mistake and has started 'trying' to discipline her but It doesn't seem to be working because the child really doesn't listen to her, I can understand why her mother has spoilt her as she lost her first baby to cot death when she was 10 months old, but she didn't stop to think about the consequences in later life, she will play up hell when she's a teenager and her mum won't be able to do a thing.
One example of how bad she is:
Recently when I was there we went out to get some fried chicken and when we were walking back home the child asked if she could carry her box of chicken, so her mum agreed but told her if she looks like she's going to drop it she'll take it back until we get home, so after about a minute we looked at her and she wasn't holding the box properly and her chicken was almost falling out onto the floor, so her mum took it back, and at that very moment the child threw herself on the ground and started kicking and screaming, you have to understand this wasn't a very nice neighbourhood, it's like the bad side of town, the floor is filthy with who knows what and the streets are filled with weirdo's, it was like a saturday night so it was packed with people and here this child was on the floor kicking her feet about and screaming at the top of her lungs, you would think someone was trying to kill her, so her mum said just keep walking and ignore her and she'll get up, we walked but she never got up so her mum had to scrape her up off the floor and drag her home.
I was so embarrased.
This is just a small taste of what she's like everytime she doesnt get her way!
I like to think of smacking a child as an extreme last resort, and I definitely would never ever belt my child that is just so very wrong.
When I worked as a Live-in Nanny for one family they had no rules set for the kids, they were given crisps and sweets to take to bed, their mother used to let them play in their bedroom when they went to bed till they were tired (which meant sometimes they were up till 10/11 o'clock at night, they'd take hours eating their dinner just to stay up longer, they'd get up at 5am and constantly knock at their mums door asking for food (which she would let them have just to get rid of them) it goes on and on.... well when I went to work there that all changed and while I was working there I felt as though I really made a difference for the better, they no longer were allowed food to take up to bed, they ate their dinner quickly and quietly, once they were sent to bed I would read to them for one hour then they would sleep, I even got them washing their hands after they used the loo, I changed their whole lifestyle, I think I even made a dent on the parents habits, lol.
The older child (7) used to have the most awful tantrums and while I was there I managed to control that aswell, without any force, she would either go to her room, get grounded, lose some luxury or sit on the stairs.
By the end of it most fo the time when she started to get angry she would either take herself out of the room to calm down or explain to the person that was annoying her (usually her sister) why she was annoying her and ask her to stop.
At one stage I bought some stickers and drew up a behaviour chart which worked well, their mother worked with me and we decided on giving them 10p a day if they were good so if they were good all week they would have 50p which totalled to £2 a month, which is alot for kids, if they were good and at the end of the month they would be able to buy something of their choice with it, like penny sweets ect.
So I believe that you should always try other options and leave smacking as the last resort because mostly what you teach a child by smacking them is that hitting people is an ok thing to do.
Piggle
x x x x