OT: Re: pretty interesting mainstream linux piece

[Alma J Wetzker]

I firmly maintain that anyone who cannot tell the difference between a 
spanking and a beating should NEVER attempt to spank their child.  For those 
who do understand the difference, there are times (or children) where spanking 
may be the best thing to use.  (I had one and he is turning out pretty good, 
[like I had anything to do with it.])  One out of seven, not bad.

     -- Alma

Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
 > It is true that beating your kids is illegal here, and kids have a
 > recourse. I really do not have trouble with that. I think that when it
 > gets to the point where you need physical threats with kids, something
 > has gone sadly wrong. I think this sort of thing escalates. A slap
 > today, a harder one next time. And so it progresses. Growing up in
 > Chicago (not Swedish by any connection), I was not a stranger to the
 > strap. However, both my parents worked (a career mom in the '60s...) and
 > we had someone help at home. One Polish lady I remember was the
 > archtypical gray haired little lady in a babushka. Her method of control
 > was much more devious than a strap. It involved kneeling or prune juice.
 > Or just her intense stare. We lived in fear of these. Prune juice is
 > just pure evil. To be avoided at all cost. Pleeaassee, just use a strap!
 > Not the juice!
 >
 > I am a parent.
 >
 >
 > On Thu, 2005-01-27 at 08:44 -0500, Matthew Carpenter wrote:
 >
> It could be that I have either received a slanted version of it, or that
> I simply misinterpreted something.  But what I heard was that my wife's
> cousins were in danger of being removed for being spanked.  I suppose
> this is a hot topic even in the US, but raising kids is an art,
> requiring a wide range of encouragements and punishments (both
> pronounced "LOVE"). Sometimes the US gov't is pretty screwed up in their
> handling of issues.  I do, however, fear the "it takes a village"
> approach offered by Hillary Clinton, even though I agree that
> surrounding environment is an important variable.
> 
> Sorry if I'vemade an inaccurate statement.  One of the better parts of a
> world-wide list of friends is that social boundaries can be crossed
> without crossing the physical ones.  :)
> 
> Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
> | Sweden does have a concept of human rights that extends to kids. After
> | all, kids is human too. I always felt that the social services in the
> | U.S. were more likely to take a kid away. I think whatever you heard
> | about Sweden is not fully accurate. It probably stems from the fact that
> | a kid does have the right to protection if their parent beats them. I
> | have never heard of a case of a kid being taken away. I am sure it has
> | happened, but not so very often. Sweden really wants kids to stay with
> | their parents.
> |
> | As to skiing to Norway, well, I guess it could be done. As long as you
> | like cross country skiing. Sweden is quite a flat place. When you hit
> | the border to Norway you finally hit the mountains. Without these
> | mountains I think Sweden and Norway would have developed as one country.
> | The best skiing in Sweden is near the Norwegian border. This year,
> | during the sport break, when just about everybody goes skiing, we are
> | going to Norway. Followed closely by a Brinks van...