(Editor’s Note: When I read this I had mixed feelings. Having not been a “spanking parent” and certainly not a “spanking grandparent”, I still thought this point of view was worth sharing. What do you think?)
All parents have to decide when disciplining their children: spanking or no spanking? Many parents feel they need to have a physical component to disciplining, while others feel that physical methods are unnecessary. For parents that aren’t sure if they want to spank their children or not, parenting expert and author Richard Greenberg of Raising Children That Other People Like to Be Around offers a successful new method that will leave any parent pleased.
Richard confesses that he was spanked as a kid, and has spanked his oldest in the past, but has employed a new way to effectively discipline your children that still offers a certain physical component. “With our children I employee the modification of dropping to a knee, firmly holding the little bicep to avoid squirming, looking them squarely in the eye, and in my deepest and most serious “dad voice” stating that their behavior was unacceptable. I would often make clear that continuing the bad behavior would end in a serious punishment.”
Richard states that eye contact is a significant part of his warning. “Grabbing the arm or even spanking wasn’t about punishing as much as getting their attention. I wanted my kids to know that the infraction they had just committed was outside the expectations of our family.”
Your daughter is dying her black hair fuchsia. After eight years of cello lessons, your child prodigy says, “I quit.” You ask, “What am I doing wrong?” The parenting process is designed to succeed; yet millions of parents wonder if they’re doing things “right.” After raising four kids over thirty years, Richard Greenberg shows how tapping into the common sense you already have is the first key to parenting. Then it’s a matter of putting that knowledge to work- which is what you’ll learn in Raising Children That Other People Like To Be Around. His book gives parents an overview of the process while offering guidelines to reduce conflict between parents and their kids, improve communication within any family, and replace the stress of parenting with true common sense. “Teaching children respect means showing respect for ourselves. It’s not easy to live an ‘exemplary’ life, but trying really hard to do so is exactly what being a parent is. None of us are perfect, but every day we have opportunities to show our kids the high road not only in our expectations of them, but in our expectations of ourselves.”
About Richard Greenberg:
Richard Greenberg is native of Los Angeles. In 1976, he graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in English. Shortly thereafter, he married his childhood sweetheart JoAnn, and they continue to happily parent three sons and a daughter. For 30 years Richard worked in the entertainment industry as a post-production executive, editor and writer/producer. Richard shares his wisdom and strategy in the book, in his Huffington Post column and on his website CommonSenseDad.com
