Mom's Radio on NPR's Tell Me More with Michel Martin

Today's topic - Too Spank or not Too Spank? That is the question. I still spank my kids when necessary, how about you? The Swedish Government is celebrating 30 years of a "spank free" society. Advocates for banning spanking in america are using their success to further their agenda to ban spanking in America, but is Sweden the United States? They site studies that show spanking is bad for us like the Report on Physical Punishment in America, a 2008 meta-analysis study by Dr. Elizabeth T. Gershoff, a Prof at the Univ. of Minnesota which basically says spanking puts children at risk for negative outcomes; including increased aggression, antisocial behavior, mental health problems and physical injury. Now I don't know about y'all but I know thousands that were spanked growing up (like myself) who didn't experience any of those. Yet they refuse to do reports showing the positive outcome spanking and discipline have on our society. In my research I've found that those who have been spanked or spank their children are more respectful and submissive to authority. They are more cooperative and less likely to curse you out on the metro, or take up two seats during rush hour then get rude and disrespectfull when you correct them. They are the kids like mine who don't disrupt class because they know if I have to take off work, oh that's their behind.

Today, we have out of control children in this country, spoiled brats that are disrupting everything from the home to the grocery store, the metro, the bus, school and the mall. Timeouts and taking things away have not worked as experts have suggested. Should they be allowed to outlaw spannking or should the decision to spank or not be left to us parents? What say you????