Is it okay to choose not to spank children?

[GoLatin]

I do not actually have any children, but if I ever have some in the future, I do not want to use physical punishment (such as spanking) to discipline them.

Part of this is probably because I was myself physically punished as a child, and I do not want to inflict that on anybody else.

I recall being spanked with a wet stick (to hurt more) on my bare bottom as a younger child, and when I grew older the method graduated to a dry stick on my clothed bottom. The final method was a leather belt (not the buckle end, thankfully!) that was used on my bottom and legs. There were bruises.

This did not happen on a daily basis, but it did not stop until shortly before I turned 18. (Yes, that’s 18, not 8).

And in case you are wondering, I never had sex, did drugs, or got arrested (and still never have).

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

The mandate given by the Church is that parents are to discipline their children (CCC 2223); although it does not explicitly forbid doing so, the Church does not mandate spanking them. The choice for how to discipline their children is left to the prudential judgment of the parents. In your case, it would appear to be good prudential judgment for someone who experienced severe physical punishment as a child to avoid the potential for repeating the cycle by avoiding spanking altogether and focusing instead on other means of child discipline.

Recommended reading:

Does the Church condone spanking?
Parenting with Grace by Gregory K. Popcak