I'm Italian, and in Italy physical punishment is considered, sadly, a valid method to discipline a child, but only if we're talking about slaps or spankings, any type of punishment that includes using, for example, a belt is considered SO bad in Italy that people will call CPS on you, and honestly… I kind of always assumed that anybody who belts their kid is an abusive asshole. I never even questioned it, nor has any other Italian of my generation. But from what I've heard from some comments here, YouTube videos and even American friends of mine, in America it's actually normal to use the belt on your child (or at least it is in Texas, Alabama and states like that). Is that true?
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No.
No it’s not normal. I have never hit my kids with anything. That’s abuse.
Nope.
It used to be normal, at least in southern states. Its definitely fallen out of favor. Just an anecdote, but I got the belt as a kid. I do NOT even consider using a belt on my kids.
No
Not really. Even in the areas where people are more likely to think corporal punishment is okay its still a few generations past being normal.
It does still happen though.
For some people, yes. But it’s frowned upon by the majority of people. Most of us consider it abusive even though the law allows it.
No. My dad spanked me, but only with an open hand. I was the only kid he spanked, being the oldest. He said he felt terrible about it.
50 years ago, yes. Now? Absolutely not. Even spanking is looked down on.
That will get you a visit from child protective services in most places.
Tom Petty said his dad beat him w/a belt until he developed welts. That was some decades ago though. But if one parent did it, surely there were others at the time doing the same. This was in Florida.
It is not normal in the great majority of American households. People who use belts to hit their children ARE abusive assholes.
Not really but it does happen. I think it depends on where you come from. The Puerto Rican half of my family, that sort of thing is pretty common.
I think more people have wised up to the fact that it’s not really discipline and just teaches kids that it’s okay to hit someone when you’re angry. Spanking is a euphomism for beating your kids
No that is absolutely not normal. That is abuse
I live in the south. It’s less common than when I was a child in the early 2000s, but it’s still done. I was whipped with a belt (and very cliche, a switch too) as a child. I have no resentment and was not abused, but I won’t be carrying down the tradition. There’s other forms of punishment I will utilize.
My dad always got out the belt and snapped it saying, “Don’t make me use the belt on you!” He, however, never used the belt. It was just scary to me… but I think he just liked the sound it made lol
As others have said, it used to be common. My dad would use his masonry belt, and my mom would use a wooden cooking spoon. However, by the time I was an adult, this was deemed poor parenting and not a single friend of mine use corporal punishment.
My wife and I never used corporal punishment, but it’s hard to say if that was because we were against it at the time, or just because all our kids were older foster kids that had come from violent homes, and thus it would create a lot of issues. (side note: I am glad we never did as I know the psychological damage it can do, and am strongly against it now)
I’m surprised by all the people on here saying it’s not normal. I’m not that old and I really used to get it and most of my parents friends spanked their kids too. With that said it’s something I never do with my children now.
It’s not normal but I still know people who are in their 20s, 30s and early 40s who think it’s absolutely fine to hit their kids with belts. “My grandma did it to my parents and my parents did it to me, and I learned RESPECT” is what you will hear them say.
What I am learning from these comments is that it is in fact not normal, which slightly surprises me because it was a very normal thing that happened pretty often in my home growing up, and I’m only 26.
I do not think it is common anymore, but it definitely used to be. When I was kid that was how I was disciplined, but I do not know of anyone who uses that method anymore.
Less and less normal with each passing year, but you’re right about the geographic differences. There are also social class and cultural differences – it tends to be less normal among white folks than black folks. There’s occasional dark humor about “granny grabbing a switch” among the black community in my region (Alabama) that humor is likely rooted in truth. It’s not so normal that people openly discuss it – there’s still shame attached to it in most middle-class/upper middle-class settings. But in conversations with folks who are comfortable sharing their personal experience, I’d say it’s still normal in some communities.
Here’s some [data ](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/corporal-punishment-schools-and-race-an-update/)(albeit old data) to back up the anecdotes.
I grew up in the 80s and my father used a belt to ‘spank’ me while my mother used a wooden spoon. Teachers would also hit our knuckles with a ruler. Times have definitely changed. It’s not common anymore. I’ve never hit, spanked, popped or slapped my children.
America doesn’t have a normal. We’re 50 countries pretending to be one, at best we’re 5-6 distinct regions. Even inside those regions there are massive cultural differences. What is normal in one family in one region of one state could be completely different than another family in the same region of the same state.
I grew up in Texas. And I got the belt. I’m in my 40s. I don’t really see it much today – and I would never with my kiddos.
When I was a kid,yes. Belt, Extension cord, Tree branch, hand, shoe. I often got punish often.
I live in Texas and it’s very normal here. I grew up in the northern part of USA and that was unheard of, so moving to Texas was a shock. I would NEVER spank or whoop my kid, and I never had it done to me.
Still to this day, teachers and parents whoop kids all the time. Just on Friday, my friend’s twin boys both got whooped at school. They called her for permission and she said “of course, go ahead, they’ll get it again when they get home.” That’s fucking mindblowing to me. Kids don’t learn with abuse, and it sickens me that it’s legal.
It’s not “normal”, as in, it’s not right, but it is unfortunately much more *common* than most people would think. Millennial parents however seem to be much less likely to hit their kids than their own boomer parents.
Threatened to go outside and pick out my own switch. After a few broken hair brushes and wooden spoons; finally stopped after that.
And they wonder why we don’t talk.
My husband learned very early in our relationship that he can’t crack a belt in front of me. Like when you hold it in your hands and make the leather snap together. It triggers an awful response in me because memories of being beaten with the belt just rush over me. And when we were really bad, we got the buckle.
So no, I don’t beat my kids with a belt. Or at all. Because I’m a better fucking parent than I had.
In old culture it would be normal but in today’s age i wouldn’t consider it. I come from a Hispanic household and got hit with belts, coat hangers and la Chancla, but I wouldn’t do the same to my children
I was born in the 90s and belts, switches, wooden spoons, shoes, butter knife handles, hands- we got disciplined with them all. Midwest, if it matters. 🤷♀️