Quote Originally Posted by kc261 View Post
...McKinsey and a few others have mentioned things such as chores and other physical labor as an alternative to spankings. This will often work with children who don't respond to time outs/grounding or just being talked to. It still reaches that physical discomfort spot that seems to need to be pushed on some kids. The example of having to walk to school when kicked off the school bus is another great one. Exercise can also push that button. Physical punishments, which do work very well with some kids, do not have to be spankings.
I'm not into physical punishment at all. I am bigger and stronger than a kid and so I consider it to be a power trip and I also consider it to be a signal that I am out of control of the situation. I really just don't care for physical harm and I include 'spankings' in this category. I don't feel it is okay to hit each other in the name of 'teaching a lesson'. I think it teaches a kid that hitting is okay or kids get the message that they 'won' because the parent lost control and then parent often times ends up apologizing. It's just weird.

Around our homestead doing chores wasn't physical punishment and I did the chores with them. Doing the chores needed to be done regardless; and when one of my kids thought that being oppositional was a great idea and wouldn't or couldn't back down, the chores got done THEN. It was a great way to release the energy and to focus on something other than the negativity that was going on and escalating into confrontational stuff.