Spanking or not spanking: a tale of parenting peer pressure
(Read article summary)Spanking debates are perennial: When a complete stranger approaches a mom to weigh in on it, parenting peer pressure becomes very real – if you're not being judged for one thing, it's another.
As parents, we are judged for everything we do. Spanking or time outs? Time outs or spanking? If my kid is getting sassy with me in the supermarket and I sternly talk to him, I get a look. If I ignore him, I get a look. If I yank him out of the cart and walk out of the store because he won’t quit, I get a look.
Parents can’t win these days and I am mainly thinking it’s because people need to mind their own business.
Last year, I stalked my friend on Four Square and met her at the park with our young sons, after she had finished grocery shopping. We let the boys play for a bit before my recently potty-trained child announced “I had a poopy accident.” Of course he did. At the park, miles away from the car.
Look, I get that accidents are going to happen so I did what most parents would do. I walked him to the car to clean him up and change him into a clean pair of clothes. At this point, my friend needed to get home so her groceries wouldn’t spoil, so we said our goodbyes and she abandoned me and left to go home. (ha ha!)
