SJS I generally agree that spanking is not the most effective method, but I also firmly believe that spanking is the only way to get a child too young to understand better, that there are painful negative consequences to doing something dangerous. I also believe that after the spanking, which should NOT be a beating), a parent should hold the child lovingly and then say he or she loves the child and wants him/her to be a mitzvah boy/girl, and that it made him/her very very sad to have to give a potch. The only time I had to give my son a potch was when he was around 2 and he tried to climb onto the stove. He didn’t listen when I told him to stop, and though the stove was cold at the time, this was unacceptable. He got one potch and a loud exclamation from me of “HOT!!!!!! DON’T TOUCH!!!” and NEVER went near the stove again until he was old enough to use it safely with supervision. And yes, he cried for a minute and then wanted me to hold him. Which I did.
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