I was thinking the same thing.

I'm not sure what this has to do with your topic.

Just because I don't want to live in a ghetto or raise my child in one doesn't make me racist or a hypocrite. That's down right silly to even suggest such a thing, IMO. Even the people that live in the ghetto don't want to live there.

I love when people as "Do you have kids?" doesn't matter if we have kids or not as we are someone's kids.

My mother was a firm believer in no spanking unless absolutely necessary. In fact I was only hit 4 times in my entire childhood. (Once was to get me to shape up since I was hysterical after having been molested.) I never feared my mother, she raised me while haing a broken back and one leg. My 2 sisters were raised without spanking, not once were they spanked. One turned out just fine, the youngest walked all over my mother. Did whatever she wanted without a care.

My mother tried the punishments that she was told would work:

Grounding - my sister walked out of the house after calling my mother all kinds of nasty names.

Taking things away - she would just take it back.

My youngest sister is also incredibly violent. She hits people all the time, screams yells, makes scenes in public, she swears alot whether there are kids around or not. The older of the 2 has pretty much disowned her.

I have told her that if she hits our mother again, I will call the police and have her arrested for assault and battery on a handicapped person..only problem with that is my mother won't press charges.

and now for DSS (some places call it cps)- this was my sisters favorite threat. "You punish me in any way and I'll call DSS and tell them that you hit me"

So of course my mom didnt do anything as she was too afraid of dss. So I took matters into my own hands. I brought her to the library and showed her some of the places that dss kids end up. Not all mind you, many foster homes are a wonderful place to live. I myself lived in a wonderful one (mom couldnt care for me as my mind had broken from the molestation.) But she saw enough of kids getting far worse in "bad" foster homes than in her own home that she stopped threatening it.

Sadly, as it stands, my sister and I both tolerate the youngest for my mothers sake. "You have to love her, you don't have to like her"
She is soon to be 21 and has not grown up in the least. She is still selfish, greedy, mean, swears alot, hits people, walks all over our mother, soooooo I have to wonder which of us is worse.......

Also I was raised by a man that was not my father, he came into my moms life when I was 6 months old and raised me as his own. So I feel that if you raised a child, whether it is your child or not, you count as a parent.

Actually to me, it does matter......esp. when people make blanket statements about what parents need to be doing. That of course is my own opinion, and I have no need to justify it.

The main reason I asked him that question is because I had never heard him talk of having children before. I do agree that parents are responsible for monitoring their kids activities online.

And I agree with you as well, you don't have to have given birth to a child to earn the title as caregiver or parent.

I don't need to have children to speak from how I was raised. At the same time I agree that no one should be telling people how to raise their children, UNLESS I feel that there is potential abuse going on, then I will say something or call the proper authorities.

People can speak about how their parents raised them and it should still qualify. I may not have children, but I am someone's child. Everything I learned about raising children comes from my mother raising me. I can honestly say I would try every form of punishment I can think of without resorting to spanking my child. That is how I was raised, BUT a spanking won't kill your kid. I was spanked 4 times and turned out fine.

As for my youngest sister.....well let's say she didn't turn out so well from a no spanking rule. Mind you, this is my family, I have children that are wonderful people and have never been spanked.