spanking children...yes or no?

How to raise kids is such a controversial topic—from when you should start potty training to when you should allow them to date. But the one topic, I notice parents taking strong sides either for or against is spanking a child. Personally, I believe it is okay. Now, I don’t mean beating a child or slapping them in the face, but if they do step out of line and do something really wrong, spanking is okay. It has been argued that spanking a child when they are young can cause abusive behaviors later on. I highly doubt that! I was spanked and I am not an abusive person.
However, there are guidelines to spanking, like: What age is okay to start spanking? How you should spank your child? Should you use a paddle or your hand? When should you stop spanking your child? This is my personal opinion, and keep in mind that I do not have kids of my own, so perhaps my opinion will change when I cross that bridge. My opinion is based off of my own personal experiences growing up with how I was raised, and also, after being with a guy for over a year who had a child.
First of all, I do not think it is okay to spank a child under the age of 2. While a kid is in diapers, they should not be reprimanded physically in a such a way. After the age of 2, tapping their hand when they do something wrong can go a lot further than spanking them on the bottom. Kids at this age seem to be sensitive to right and wrong.
Spanking really only seems appropriate up until the child in is 4th or 5th grade, basically elementary school. At my elementary school, which is a private Christian school, if a child continued to be a “problem”, they were allowed to be spanked if the parent said it was okay. The parent would be called first to be notified of their child’s actions, and then told that a spanking seemed appropriate. If the parents agreed to that, then the child would be taken into the office and “swatted” on the behind three times. The parent was also given the opportunity to come to the school and take care of the issue themselves. I do not agree with anyone but parental figures spanking a child. I believe the school should not be allowed to spank. Also, when a child is spanked by parents, it should only be on the behind or on the hand, and never when the parent is angry. Also, if a child does something wrong in public, the parent should not reprimand the child in such a way in public. Spanking along with vocal reprimanding should be private matters. My parents, for instance, never got on to my brother or me in front of other people, but we would get in trouble when we home or in a private area. The words I always hated to hear when I was younger was, “do you want to go to the bathroom?”. Of course I didn’t and it had nothing to do with whether or not I actually need to use the restroom, but it was my parents way of letting my know I had gone too far. Those trips to the restroom usually resorted in a spanking.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/12/free-range-kids-blog.html
http://wordpress.com/tag/spanking-children/
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/1219230,CST-NWS-spank14.article

song...

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though its breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, youll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
Youll see the sun come shining through for you
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying?
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile
Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying?
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

CO2 Emissions

Damages done to our land and atmosphere so far are a large result of the carbon dioxide given off from coal and petroleum fueled plants. Coal-fired power plants for instance give off 8 billion tons of CO2. We know where this problem is, we know what it takes to solve it—trap the carbon dioxide being emitted into our ozone. However, finding an adequate way to trap or alter these CO2 emissions takes time and money. Two proposed ideas of doing this are to either create some sort of sponge-like substance to soak up these emissions or to build coal-plants differently so that less CO2 is emitted into the air. I greatly encourage the idea of this plan.
Finding our high concentrated CO2 areas is not the problem; finding where to put our problem once it is collected is a difficult task. The first area of dumping discussed, and that I find more tolerable, is injecting the gathered carbon dioxide into saline aquifers surrounded by basalt. The basalt reacts with the CO2 infused salt-water and hardened it into various minerals including calcium carbonate. Research shows that this reaction would occur before the CO2 had time to escape the ground. The second area of dumping, which I completely disagree with, is putting a carbon dioxide-blended mixture into the ocean. Since injecting the ocean floor with CO2 can cause high levels of acidity in the surrounding waters, blending the carbon dioxide with a salt water and limestone creates a more ocean-friendly effect when dropped into the seas. Since the CO2 would mostly break down the limestone as opposed to creating high levels of acidity, the effect would not be as drastic. Also, the substance formed from the mixture would be small amounts instead of one lump. The effect from dropping each CO2 globule would be adequate to dropping a tiny Tum into the ocean. This sounds fine when you consider dropping one “Tum” into the water, however how many of these these tiny Tum-bombs would have to be placed out to sea to take care of our CO2 issue at home?