I’m a horrible mother. My kid’s four and I’ve already messed her up. It all started when I read this Dr. Sears article on spanking. In it, he says that violence begets violence; spanking doesn’t work; it sends the message that it’s ok for strong people to hurt weak people; and that kids who are spanked believe they are bad inside. It convinced me to stop spanking my daughter.
I never felt so ashamed as I did after reading that article. I have spanked my daughter, when she was acting so badly I just didn’t know what else to do. Like when she smashed her brother’s head into the wall. Like when she kicked him in the face. Like when she kept kicking her door in the middle of a tantrum. I did it in anger. I hurt her. And the article said that’s the worst thing to do.
