Why do some people support harsh punishment for kids?

Agreed.

In my mother's case... that "healthy option meal" was usually triggered when either of her kids was stubbornly refusing to accept what had been wrong about the behaviour... or tried to put the blame on other people, instead. Apologise, accept... and, suddenly, peas. Uh... I meant... "peace".

And, heck: we both grew out of the "ewwww — spinach!" stage after a while: as a punishment goes, it actually taught us that Your Mind Makes It Real, more than anything else. In short: "don't sucker yourself, kids, with a preconception you picked up from others at school".

I've noticed some of my clients are having discipline issues with their children due to a rejection of the absurdity of their parents discipline.

Gabrael is right. Healthy food as punishment is very counter productive.

However harsh punishment can also be lapse punishment. There are some parents who are too easy on their children and can't seem to understand that such behavior is only harming their child in the long run.

It wasn't because it was healthy, though: it's because we'd fixated on "spinach = bad". The rest of the diet was healthy... just... usually spinach-free.

OP: Fundamentalism may have something to do with it.

edited 21st Sep '12 2:04:22 PM by ArgentumUranium

OMG. I hate reading stuff like that.

That attitude was is far too common in Africa, and... I remember it well. <shudders>

edited 21st Sep '12 2:58:40 PM by Euodiachloris

Yeah, that's the approach my parents used. It's also referred to as the "Pearl Method" sometimes.

At least the outcry against them is encouraging.

@Euo: There was a case in America of a woman who beat her kid with a length of pipe.

There are cases of violence of all kinds towards children everywhere.

edited 21st Sep '12 5:04:33 PM by Gabrael

@Gabrael: In this case the poor kid was only about two and had bruises everywhere (if I'm remembering correctly)

And in Congo newborns are left to die on their mother's mutilated bodies.

Children are tortured everywhere.

In Congo, everyone is left to die near a mutilated corpse at some point.

On a serious note, @Gabrael is right,Child abuse is a worldwide problem.

Hell compared to the abuse some kids suffer, that kid that got beaten with a pipe comes off as lucky. At least he made out alive.

edited 21st Sep '12 7:08:41 PM by DeviantBraeburn

@Braeburn: It was she, it was actually the godmother, and the kid died.

Ok so she wasn't that lucky.

But hey, there are (amazingly) worse ways to go.

@Braeburn: Yeah, like parents who think their children are witches and have them exorcised.

I admit to having a very limited knowledge (okay its entirely based on The Exorcist movies) but aren't most exorcisms basically yelling prayers, throwing holy water, and waving a religious symbol around widely?

If a parent legitimately believes that their offspring is possessed by a demon, they are the one who needs to be strapped down and examined closely by professionals.

That's what the demons want you to think!

But this is starting to get Off-Topic.

Again, there is a BIG difference between maybe being too strict and abuse.

The example of a girl being embarassed on Facebook for insulting her mom is not harsh really, but counter productive yes. A kid being beat to death is flat out abuse.

I'm trying to draw the line so this coversation can be more productive.

Let's think more making their kids do math problems for an hour for making a 98% on a test versus the parents who think putting their baby in the microwave because it won't stop screaming.

edited 21st Sep '12 8:16:09 PM by Gabrael

Has someone done that?!

I'm honestly to scared to check.

@Joe and @Braeburn: There's an urban legend involving gassing a baby.

Yes, there has been. My father was a police officer for over 25 years. Between his stories and what I learned in police academy it'll make you go home and slit your wrists. He was in juvie dectectives for a bit as well.

Some parents are fucking stupid, like the couple he arrested for putting their baby in the freezer in attempts to lower her fever. But too many were just damned cruel.

On topic, what are some punishments you (fellow tropers) received that you thought was too harsh and why?

IMO any permanent loss of privilege is too harsh. You can say "Don't do X for Y time until you learn", but I would never take away something for good as punishment. For protection, perhaps.

@Gabrael's question:

• Things that inflict permanent damage. Youth is the time for mistakes, putting a permanent consequence on such behavior is counterproductive.
• punishment without explanation. Unless someone understands what is taking place, punishment just becomes another form of pain, nothing to be learned from.
• violence in anger. If the parent is inflicting pain *
  physical or emotional, makes no difference in what I'm talking about
  solely out of pique, they are not doing their offspring any service...rather, they are teaching them that people in power will behave badly. Granted, that's not an untrue lesson but its one that any human will learn by default. If you are going to serve a punishment, serve it in cold blood.

I cannot think of anything else, mostly because all the rest that occur to me could be justified with situations.