I hear hurting "children" is even worse, #1. Passing over your lack of spelling, I don't think any children were harmed in the making of this FML. The mother didn't beat her son with a bat; she only "swatted" him. The comment bug is really buzzing around today (we need the OP to swat it), so I apologize if my earlier post shows up again.

wait until u have kids

how bout that child molestation

OP didn't beat their child. What they did teaches discipline, and as long as what a parent does to teach that discipline doesn't leave a bruise or anything more, there's nothing wrong with it.

spanking your kid doesn't make you a bad parent or scar ur kids... I was spanked as a kid and guess what? it taught me real quick to behave and not be a brat.

And if your father molested you as a kid, would you do the same to your children? This is no different. You were brainwashed into believing hurting your children to discipline them is ok, since your parents did it. When in reality it'll land you in jail. if you do your job right as a parent your children will listen to your words because they know it's the right thing. Not because their afraid there going to be beaten by their own dam parents.

I don't spank my son and he is well behaved. beating children is wrong and your comment just shows how brain washed your parents made you.good job.

ydi for being the wrong kid! other than that, u did nothing wrong!!!

Forever, you can't compare molestation and spanking. I was spanked as a child, and I'm not brainwashed or scarred. I have a 4 year old, and while I have not spanked her, once she is old enough to know right from wrong, I will if I need to. Corporal punishment will not land you in jail. Beating your child will. But spanking, no. And I like how you used both "their" and "there" incorrectly in the same sentence. That was amusing.

81 is right. nowhere did it say that she beat the child. there is a difference between beating and spanking.

amen to that!

She isn't harming her child she is just spanking him there is a difference between child abuse and discipline.

Doc, what I also love is that it's supposed to be they're both times.

Spanking isn't child abuse. My parents spanked me, and eventually they just had to threaten to spank me instead of actually doing it.

honestly, this is why some kids are ****** up. a spanking is a way to discipline children when they act out or behave badly. a beating is a much more serious case where parents use excessive amounts of force for no reason

What's up with all this "abuse" nonsense. it's not abuse, it's setting their ass straight. Kids were way better behaved and more respectful when spanking was allowed. I'm still just 16 and I still think some ass should get kicked for misbehavior. cause talking isn't working lol

You're basically saying as long as there are no marks proving a I smack a kid around, there's nothing wrong with it. There are ways to cause serious pain without bruising.

Generally when I was spanked as a kid it stung for no more than a few seconds. The point isn't to injure your children; that's child abuse. It's just to get the point across. And the way I remember, it sure did. haha. I feel sorry for some of these kids.. if their parents are such softies imagine how they'll be.

bitch I hope a toddler stabs you

you people are such pricks nit picking on spelling on fml op deserved it and really f all ur lives cause you people really are sad. I mean spanking is hitting no matter how you look at it I hope next rime you fck up at work your boss sets you pulls down your pants and smacks your ass till it looks like red meat

for those of you that believe in god why don't you look up in the bible where it says it's only bad to hit your child with a closed hand.. it also says hitting your child with a fishing rod won't kill them...wouldn't do that to my kid but just saying

Overreacting kids toward spanking telling parents how to discipline their children is funny.

spanking is no way to discipline your child. it seems harmless on the surface but emotional damage that's unseen even by the child is worse. it changes the relationship you have with your parents forever and makes many children fear their parents and fear going to their parents for help or condolence when they do something wrong because they don't want to get spanked. my friend is like. my parents never spanked me.. we argue and yell but the second they lay a hand on me I know that things will never be the same also, spanking never can replace an explanation for why a kid can't behave the way they're behaving. if a kid learns not to do something because they'll be spanked for it instead of because it's disrespectful to others or whatever the reason may be, they won't truly learn what is right and wrong and WHY it's right or wrong... they won't learn to judge right from wrong in the future when complicated situations present themselves and the parent isn't there to tell them what is wrong and what will get them spanked. bottom line, while spanking may work with some children (depending on the personality and nature of the kid), I would never take such a risk with my child. If I have to use force to teach and be a role model for my kid then I must not be a good parent.

*my friend is like that sorry I missed a word while typing

So you would be okay if you were speeding you got hit(or your car) to teach you discipline? Or you download a song illegally, does that give someone rights to physically harm you?

I was spanked and have no emotional damage and know the difference between right and wrong. my friends nephew is one of the worst kids I have ever met and does whatever he wants because he won't get in trouble and thinks it's ok. he has no respect for his parents or anyone. he is plenty old to know what's right or wrong but doesn't.

oh man, i wish you guys were my parents i could've done anything in my life and all i get is an explanation on why it is wrong and get sent to my room. like if i steal something you guys are just gonna tell me its bad then send me to my room? ahahahaha i'll just do it again and try not to get caught. what im saying is, spanking isn't wrong when done properly. when you guys hear the word spanking you immediately imagine super mega red meat butts. beating the crap outta someones but and spanking is different. seriously tho i wish u guys were my parents, so i wont learn the consecquences of my actions

Yeah my mom is a probation officer for people who ABUSE kids. So it's her job to find child abusers and keep them from hurting kids again. And guess what? I got spanked as a kid. No, my parents didn't use a belt or stick to beat me - but when I was a brat they would put me in my place real quick with a spanking.

I hope you in favor of never spanking your kids in fear of irreversible emotional damage due to superficial pain NEVER allow your kids to play in any contact sports or risk any sort of outdoor activity since any amount of pain my emotionally damage your child.

may*

I was spanked as a child and consider myself to be ok. Everyone is entitled to the choice of whether or not to spank their child, but not to tell someone else they are right or wrong for it. it's a matter of personal preference really. And to those who are giving the "How would you like it if you were spanked for..." speech, you're not supposed to like it or agree with it. It's a punishment for crying out loud. But that's just my two cents...

My parents used to hit me, it didn't make me respectful.It made me hate them because of the fear that I'd get hit every time I'd do the littleist thing wrong. Spanking is still hitting, and your child will begin to fear you. My mother once hit my brother round the head with a large hardcover book, it didn't leave a bruise. Is that right, Chippa?

I think the spanking debate is kind of ridiculous. I don't believe in hitting a child for discipline. Spanking may work and discipline some children but it will not work for all children, I guess it's like 'different strokes for different folks'. The lack of discipline among children today is not a result of not being hit but rather a lack of effort to put forth any sort of discipline. Gets are raised by TV sets and Google now a days. Most parents these days won't let themselves be inconvenienced by their children thus kids end up making there own rules because no one is there to teach them.

fml fights ftw xD

Ooh, I was afraid dumbasses like this would comment. it's not out of her own frustration, it's call negative reinforcement because the child was being bad. the child would have no reason to listen to the parent if not for threat of spanking. whiny ******* like you need to grow a pair and enter the real world.

yeah man enter the real world !!

A swat on the rear is not even close to being physical harm. Sometimes a quick spank is far more effective than screaming your head off at your kid. @205: agreed

Sorry we don't spoil our kids with what they want. If they want something, they gotta earn it. If they act up about it, they get spanked. Now we wonder why kids are so weak today. Cause parents don't like hitting their kids or punish them. Those rotten spoiled little *****.

Dumb for spanking the wrong kid, smart for spanking. The people who are mad that others spank their kids need to grow up yourself. Your attitude is responsible for the immature, irresponsible, over-protected children that we have today. It's not that spanking is necessary, but the idea that teaching discipline is ignored. Spanking is simply one reasonable tool available to parents. Enough with this new age idiocy and cowardice.

It is legal, 103 (or could be 109) As long as it isn't excessive

hell yeah

Okay, I agree that she should be more observent but it's not "harming" your child. Children need to be punished when they do something wrong.

@185 Fail. It's wrong to use violence to solve problems or establish authority. You obviously have poor understanding on the subject to put corporal punishment and sports on the same ground.

I got spanked a few times as a kid and soup on my tounge sometimes and guess what? I'm fine!

Learn how to capitalize and space properly, please. Just saying, your profile says you're a grammar Nazi, but you don't follow the same rules? Hmm.... Also, there's nothing wrong with swatting your child unless you actually leave a mark. It teaches them discipline and respect. I was spanked only twice in my life before I learned my manners! Obviously, I'm not scarred for life.

I agree, completely! But found it impossible to give you a thumbs up because of the long comment. And people, spanking is NOT discipline. It's punishment. Punishment is what happens when discipline fails. Learn the difference & you will make a difference.

The OP is a good parent. If you seriously think that's child abuse then I'd like to see you try and live way back in the day where teachers whipped kids. If you think spanking a kid is bad then this is what's making our generation screwed, because kids don't know the rules because their parents never "taught" them to listen to the rules and be punished if they didn't.

Best profile pic and yeah your right

I get physical punishment all the time, yet every time I'm still doomed to reapeat the mistake. Why? Because I don't care if I get spanked or kicked in the ankle. It only teaches you how to take a hit. Want to raise a good kid? Get him the things he wants, but maje him work to finally recieve them. Teaches them that you have to work for what you want.

Learn how to ******* spell. Christ.

There's a difference. You cannot reason with a four-year-old child, so a quick swat on the rear is negative reinforcement. You can reason with an adult and therefore do not need to hit them to get your point across.

So first people say "should've spanked him/her to teach them shit" now it's " don't abuse children" like wtf

#185, when it comes from your parents, the people who are supposed to give you love and affection, yes it will be emotionally scarring.

278, yea I got soup all the time too, sometimes tomato and sometimes mushroom, tomato tasted better.

I hate when religion nuts use the bible to fuel their arguments. Shut up and develop a conscience of your own.

The thing is when you are spanked, you ARENT learning the consequences of your actions, you are relating that experience with physical pain, not the actual consequence that would come with that event. Corporal punishment is outdated and is just an assertion of dominance that isn't needed to raise a respectful, well disciplined kid.

So the two options that you see fit for punishment are screaming, and spanking, neither of which convey an understanding of consequences. To me, it sounds like you are to lazy to explain to your kid what they did wrong, and why it's incorrect.

You sound sure of yourself when you say it teaches discipline and respect, yet you do not know to what depth a certain thing will affect someone, and what it will accomplish or not.

I'm not even going to point out the many flaws in your thinking here.

This is a long list of replies.

I agree.

lolwat

well you know it is Spanking Season, and I've got a hankering for some spankering!!

wow so you don't know what your kids face/head/hair looks like?! oookkk...

i think he meant that he hopes that her steak was well done with the other kid's mom (jk)

Oh yeah I'm sure the mother was thrilled with you. Oops! Shit happens. Next time I guess pay more attention?

All of you people fighting over this are idiots. This spanking is wrong attitude is why little kids are such horrible assholes today

The problem is she spanked the wrong child.

She only swatted him. She didn't take him to her house...

I don't necessarily disagree with spanking, but an adult stranger smacking a 4 year old child on the rear? Should have been arrested. (assuming the wrong child wasn't your child. Still bad even if it was your child... doesn't work well as discipline if they see the discipline as happening regardless of whether they actually do anything to cause it.)

A little extreme to arrest OP. It was an accident and it's easy to mix up kids if they look the same.

How a light little smack is completely acceptable beating them or hitting them really hard is abuse and wrong not discipline

A little smack might be completely acceptable, but it shouldn't be the only parenting tool you have available. A mother who pays so little enough attention to her child that she even manages to spank the wrong one ... that's one hell of a lousy mother. At four years old the child should be more than old enough to communicate with the mother - there could be hundreds of reasons why the child didn't want to be picked up: forgot his toy, lost his shoe, got his finger caught somewhere ... The only way she did not notice it wasn't her child, is if she didn't even give him a chance to utter a single word, or make eye contact before she spanked him. Everybody makes mistakes sometimes, but if that's her standard way of dealing with the child, that is abusive.

Shut up you dirty hippie.

OP "abused" no one. There's nothing wrong with swatting your kid to enforce the rules. I was given a good spank as a kid every time I did something wrong as a kid, and now I have the utmost respect for all rules.

omg. she didn't use forse it was a harmless swat. if you tell your kid something and they misbehave there is nothing wrong with a little swat. it's not abuse and she will not go to jail. these comments are so stupid obviousle don't have kids or they walk all over you.

stop saying that not spanking kids is the reason that they turned out so messed up and rude. spanking causes fear in the child of they're own parent and even trauma. I have friends who hate their parents secretly because they are scared of being spanked. more kids turn out messed up these days because they grow up around the influence of the tv, Internet and the society around them. with the internet, a lot of negative influences can shape a kid. back when spanking was common, no one spoke out against the rule because spanking instilled fear in the social environment. do you really want kids to be brain dead zombies and not question anything or think for themselves? if kids turn out messed up it's because parents let their kids be exposed to negative influences, weren't good role models and didnt have healthy relationships with the kid. it's not because the parent didn't spank the kid in order to make them little robots that obey orders. kids need to be taught that they should do what's right because they geniunly know it's the right thing to do, not because they think they should do it to avoid a spanking. yes, it's not the "easy way out" that's just spanking a kid to cause fear, but if you spend the extra effort and deal with the difficult challenge of being a good parent, it'll be worth it for your kid in the end.

***TL;DR WARNING: if your attention span won't allow you beyond the end of this warning, go recite your alphabet somewhere. @239: i agree with your first statement, but the rest ... well ... ... please bear in mind that discipline and abuse are two different things. discipline is reasonable, whereas abuse is completely uncalled for. there's nothing wrong with a REASONABLE spanking if, for example, your son just won't stop throwing toys at his sister even after you've told him to for the millionth time; that's discipline. however, if the same situation plays out and the parent decides it's a good idea to SLAM the kid's face into the wall? no. that's UNreasonable, UNcalled for (no matter what), and has abuse (NOT discipline) written all over it. discipline doesn't (and isn't meant to) cause trauma or fear of one's guardian, abuse does that. it's abuse that causes fear, resentment, and malice, but no one here is condoning abuse (i hope). and yes, discipline too will DEFINITELY make you hate your parents, but the difference being is that it's an ephemeral and childish hatred. what do i mean by "childish hatred?" something like hating your mother because today she bought 10 toys for your brother's birthday and only 1 for you; that's childish. and the inability to think for ourselves? brain-dead zombies? these are results of conformity instilled by FEAR, which as i've already stated is a byproduct of (BRACE YOURSELF) abuse, not discipline. another thing i agree with you on is method. there ARE many other ways, and discipline should be a last resort. a kid shouldn't have to make choices on whether or not something's worth getting spanked over. with that said, i still acknowledge discipline as a reasonable method, albeit last resort. remember what i said about "childish?" though i'd love if my child always did good simply for the sake of good, i can't deny that he is a child, and as such will inevitable make mistakes due to lack of experience. a child may be innocent, but that doesn't mean they won't do wrong. or that they won't do it a second time. or a third. or a fourth. if this is the case, discipline comes into play not to cause fear, but to let him know that this mistake isn't worth making a fifth time. there's nothing wrong with discipline, as long as you don't confuse it with abuse.

For what?

Americans...

Stereotypes...

Americans way to do things.

People like #10 make Americans look really bad.