A life of a single mom. Yet one of those days again.

My boys are 6 (kindergarden) and 7 (2nd grade). I picked them up from school, we were in a hurry. We had a wrestling meet to go to. We get to the elementary school, have to get to the bathroom, my boys need to be watched continually. My youngest one was throwing his fit, doing everything that he shouldnt of been doing, I spanked his but,just once, than he being the drama king. Screaming to the top of his lungs. I tapped his cheeck, and wouldnt you know it, he screamed more. Than some kind of lawenforcement person decided to come and intervene. Asking if everything was ok. I said yes,than my oldest son saids she slapped him across his face. OMG. Im already pissed. Than walking out I told him I did spank his butt and than he told me that,that was half the truth. What. OMG.

Than he felt the need to watch me. I felt like telling him if you can do a better job, than do it. I was so mad.

I also went to law enforcement school. In the statute it states you can use reasonable force on a child. One spanking just once is reasonable. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrr.

These are the times it sucks being a single mom. Idid call the boys dads, dad (grandpa) he is a retired deputy. He told me, that it was ok and not to worry about it.

What 2 do..

I am with you if the officer could have done a better job then he can do it...to me this is what is wrong with our children, they seem to know that no matter what age that if we as parents spank them then we can get into trouble, I was a school bus driver for years and I have heard many children tell there parents that they can not spank them that they would go to jail, and the parents back down..He needed just what you did to get his attentio, the officer should have had a talk with him not you and explained to him that he was misbehaving.. all he did was let your son know that he could act up and if you did anything about it you would get into trouble. Goodluck as a single mother of a 17 yr old I will tell you that it does get easier...

Sorry, but I would never lay my hands on a child, no matter how out of control he/she is. Nor do I care about the law (allowing this and that to be reasonable). It's negative attention and discipline, which isn't helping the matter any. Not only that, you're teaching your children that it's okay to be of such character & parent. There are many ways of calming and punishing a little one (no matter their age). Not to mention, a child senses everything its parents are feeling. If you're stressed just because you didn't sleep well, they're going to react to that. If you're pissed off because you had a bad day at work & bring that tension home, they're going to react to that. If you're rushing around and ticked off about it, they're going to react to it.. etc.
I don't mean to sound rude by any means.. but I stand strong to my beliefs of such and it seriously hits a nerve within me. All due respect, you are you and do as you do.. and I am me and do as I do!

Maybe you need the help of Nanny 911.

I don't know though, I'm sure your doing the best you can do and your boys are just being boys and seeing what they can get away with etc.

GoodLuck.

I am so glad that I dont have kids

Hang in there!

yeah yeah okay.Some of us aren't perfect parents so try and tolerate us okay?

Wow! Interesting, I hope that your children are perfect. Like other people say, if you can raise them better than raise them.

No doubt!

I raised my daughter by myself. I am not a perfect parent and she was never a perfect child but the idea of an adult hitting a little child is just horrible.

What you are teaching them is that if you don't like what someone does, you have the right to hurt them physically.

A very bad message, in my mind. I don't slap my co-workers, people in the supermarket, or people I love - especially when they are so much smaller than I am.

Just my two cents.

a spanking never taught me that but everyone has their opinion on what works best for their kids.I think it should be one of many things in a parents magic bag.Right now I am using the give and take method.If you give me grief,I take a toy.works wonders.
I also reward weekly for good behavior at school,home , in public and doing his assigned chores.I keep track on a star chart.It works and teaches consequences.
Watch the Nanny.she has lots more good tips and ideas I have yet to try out.Good luck.

I agree with the positive reinforcement methods..my daughter learned early on that a happy mom is a happy child..how she treated me determined how she was treated. Being a normal child, she liked rewards and positive strokes - so she had an incentive to behave. If she misbehaved, I didn't strike her, but I would not be forthcoming with praise and rewards. Most humans crave positive strokes, but will accept negative attention if that is all they can get. It's better than no attention at all, I guess.

true .i hope you had a nice Holliday!!

I was spanked as a child and it didn't make me angry at all. It made me learn a lot of things! I knew who was the boss and that was my parents, I think thats whats wrong with todays kids. No one spanks their children anymore, and look at these kids today...its a scary situation.
I have 2 boys and I try to talk to them before I resort to spanking them. LOL my oldest son is 19 so of course he is way beyond the spanking stage. BUT I do have a son that is 13, I have not had to spank him for years. We have an understanding that if you respect me then I will respect you.
But if you look around at some of these kids, they are beating the crap out of their parents. Don't you wonder sometimes that maybe if they would have spanked their children, they would not be acting like little animals? I know I sure do!!

"I smell bacon I smell pork watch out piggy I gotta fork." I hate pigs.

I mean there's a difference between a cop and a pig. Pigs just look for trouble. Cops actually protect us.

I think the problem with a lot of today's youth is that their parents never bother to talk to them or spend time with them. I hear this from my daughter's friends ALL the time; have for years. They envy the fact that my daughter has a mom who is there for her. So many parents are so caught up in trying to please the boyfriend of the week that they barely know their kids; so they resort to bullying them in order to maintain control. I just think there are better ways of teaching children.

You may have a point there! I think this is part of the reason why I just don't date at all. I like my time alone with my boys, most men just don't understand that when you say its "family day."

I never dated when my daughter was young. I did date one guy when she was about 12 but he was as devoted a parent as I was - he would NEVER have tried to take a minute away from her. He understood what it meant to be a parent. She is almost 18 now and I keep thinking I should start thinking about dating ..but I still spend all of my free time with her. So....

This thread has brought a lot of insight to me. Since I do have a very young one, and a long road ahead I can get an idea of ways to approach situations. Thanks ladies. Hope ya'll had a wonderful Easter.

Duct tape. Just the sight of it works on most kids.