Monday night was the first time in my parenting career that I lost control. Correction: I didn't lose control, cause I don't think I had it to begin with. I was out of control, and there were two little boys in charge.

This lasted a good half an hour. It was time for them to be in their beds.
They did not listen, they climbed over the gate, they laughed in my face, they were not taking me seriously at all. I tried yelling, that did not work. Then I reached the end of my rope. I spanked.

I have pat them on their bottoms before, but this was more than that, this was more of a real spanking. Not the old fashioned kind, no belts, no formal ceremony out of it. Just a firm spank on the butt.

And I felt terrible. I have come to believe that spanking does not work as they were right back at the same behavior after they stopped crying. I did not like some of the advice I received upon telling this story, ie: spank them again, only do it harder.

So it was time to consult with the big wigs, the authors on such lovely topics as "How to live happily ever after with three boys 3 and under". "The smart parents' guide on how to prevent years of therapy for your children." And my favorite book of all, "How to prevent yourself from putting your head in the oven, and other tricks of the parenting trade." Oh wait, those are the future titles of my books, I just have to wait a bit longer to publish them, until I'm out of the parenting woods, if you will.

Now don't go thinking that I am a crazy liberal who doesn't believe in disciplining. In fact, I am very much of the belief that it must be done. It is how the real world works, one's actions have a consequence.

But I absolutely do not subscribe to this "spare the rod spoil the child" idea. I guess I have a bone to pick with the author of that book. ACTUALLY I HAVE MORE THAN ONE BONE TO PICK, BUT HONEY, THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER BLOG.

Now I do not propose to have all of the answers, but I will not choose the easy path. PS- I also wish to spare myself the horrible feelings that go along with spanking. That does not mean that I won't pat their bottom when they are too young to understand that something is hot for instance.

But as far as spanking goes, it just makes no sense, I'm going to spank in order to show my little boy that it is not ok to hit his brother? That's just idiotic.
It's a much less servere version of hey, let's fry that guy in the electric chair for the murder that he committed.

I don't want the blood on my hands thank you very much. And in the case of spanking, I don't want the guilt and shame on my hands from knowing that I have done wrong. Now that just might be where the big book and I agree.

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