Remember Bill Cosby's monologue about himself and his brother, Russell?

They would get into some kind of trouble, and dad would threaten to get "The Belt." He never actually produced The Belt, because the mere mention of it put the fear of God in them so that they stopped whatever it was they were doing. But they imagined it to be several feet wide with meat hooks, etc. (They also thought that their names were, respectively, "Dammit" and "Jesus Christ," because Dad would say, "Jesus Christ! What do you think you're doing?" and "Dammit, stop that!" One day Dad said to BC, "Would you get over here, Dammit?" BC replied, "Dad, I'm not Dammit, I'm Jesus Christ!")

That comedy worked on a generation that had been raised with non-abusive corporal punishment--maybe even "The Belt"--as a matter of course. An analysis today might suggest that Cosby's Dad was sadistic even to threaten such punishment.

I've seen a bumper sticker that reads: "It is never OK to hit a child."

I think that there is a standing moral rule against hitting any child.

But any plausible view of moral rules sees them as prima facie obligations, or presumptive duties. Sometimes the presumption of wrongness may be overturned by weightier moral considerations, so that one is justified in violating the rule. In the case of corporal punishment, sometimes it is simply the appropriate response--particularly when the child is being willfully defiant.

So I need a bumper sticker that reads: "Sometimes it is OK to hit a child."

Cosby was good---not much anymore.

I normally don't like to read your PhD diatribes on much of anything, but I would like to see one you would write about whooping up on children.
Now, I will assume we won't allow idiots, nervous people, ignorant people, just cheated people, extremely poor people, and all parents or adults acting as parents, or 2nd, 3rd, and 4th boyfriends to whomp up on kids, especially under one-years of age!
Just talk abut people like you or me who never lose it!

I would appreciate it if you would leave out the "Old Testament" in your research! Way too much gore there for me. Throat chopping, pulled four ways with four horses (oh that was a movie), well, you know what I mean.
They even used the "jaw-bone" of an ass to kill thousands. Not interested in the Crusades slaughter either.

Muddle, a fine retort on the art of parenting. I would assume the original blogger would have serious problems of being taken "behind the woodshed" of a bygone era.
The Cosby story portrays that the threat of the belt was usually ample warning to change childish behavior, however I would contend that it was used by the elder Cosby from time to time. Thus, making the threat real and certainly a deterrent.
No child deserves to be beaten, however as a proponent of corporal punishment, I remain convinced that a smack on the rear is appropriate from time to time.
Times have certainly changed and our moral compasses have shifted as well.
I am content with the results of my kids, as now they are grown.
Hopefully, should we be blessed with a grandchild, I will be fortunate to advise from time to time.

I couldn't agree more with Mike King & others who realize the difference between abuse and punishment. It was not often that I felt it necessary but, a pop on the behind is/should not be criminal. What is criminal is to do nothing and allow the child to make their own choices without meaningful guidance. Too often parents let the child "explore" to the point of doing things not socially acceptable. My children felt like others when growing up that I was a meddling parent because, I had the audacity to ask them "where" they were going and wanted to know with "whom" and the terrible "when" will you be home? That was all within pre-set guidlines for curfews and such....Funny thing though, they turned out pretty darned good, if I may say so!

I bet the parents of the mailbox bomb bandits are wishing they had thought of it.

Sometimes teaching kids right from wrong keeps them from breaking major federal laws.

I was too afraid to commit a felony as a kid. I knew exactly what would have happened. The police and the FBI would have been the least of my problems.