Sorry snuggles and BD, I guess I'm just an old man and "old fashioned". These days I'm probably a bad parent too and too much of an A-hole to mind my own business.
My kid would have done that once, I'd have explained that is was not warranted, don't do it again and realize I am bigger than you are. The second time I would tell him that if he does it again I will do the same to him. Next time he'd get whacked right back. He would never think that such a think was OK (lesson = cause and effect, actions recoil). I was raised to a) never strike a woman b) NEVER strike my mother.
Of course (these days) I would then have been videoed "beating my child", he would be taken away from me and be drugged to keep him from hitting people. Since this doesn't work he'd receive counseling and be made to understand that psychologically all his problems are because of his evil and abusive parent and given more dope. Surely he would be suffering from PTSD but it would all be paid for by the new heath plan.
BTW, I was never more than "lightly slapped" (to get my attention) as a child (which was enough) and I never struck my children. I also never lied to my children so if they did something they weren't supposed to and I said, "do that again and we won't ..." they learned that if they did "that" again, we didn't.
I may not be the greatest parent but neither of my kinds have ever been arrested, they have never taken any drugs (not even aspirin) and don't particularly like alcohol, not having more than a sip or two before they turned 21. I let them taste beer and such as babies which (I knew) would turn them away from it. My only "failure" is that my son is dating a girl who smokes so he does too although I can't blame him - who wants to kiss an ash-tray that isn't an ash-tray themselves. Oh, and as far as I know my son has never struck a woman - for all I know at his age his girlfriend might be dominatrix.
