corporal punishment

The other day I was sitting in the living room when I suddenly heard a kid get yelled at, a smack, and then him crying. I started to feel ill. It continued. "Sit down!" smack smack. "Don't hit me, don't hit me" the kid whimpered. Smack. "Sit down I said!" Sudden strong defiance in his voice: "NO!" Then sobbing (remorse for such defiance?): "I'm sorry...I'm sooorry...". Smack.

By now I'm physically ill. And yet, there is nothing I can do, making me feel even worse.

Corporal punishment is still strong here - not as strong as before perhaps, but still super common, almost universal it seems. All to different degrees, and there are some families that go against the mainstream and have a no-hitting, no corporal punishment, philosophy.

Most most common there's corporal punishment and shaming. It seems they go hand in hand.

Interestingly enough, it doesn't always make me feel sick like this, and I never thought I would not cringe when it was being delivered.

But - the elementary school's baseball coach has a rod, and he uses it on the boys for every missed ball they make during most drills (whacks them across the butt). But the boys don't seem phased by it at all - they trot over to the coach and line up for the smack, sometimes flinch a bit and sometimes not, the smile or grin often not leaving their face (if they have one at the time) and then off they trot to get back in line for the drill. The coach is super strict, both yelling at them and with the rod, but there is no anger, fear or rebellion towards him, it seems they respect him despite it....not because of it...I mean, I think they would respect him without it as well (?). But it is the way they do it.


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