From: cobarruvias@asd2.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: 20/20 and Spanking
Organization: NASA/JSC
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 16:42:05 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.153951.21920@cs.brown.edu> mhn@cs.brown.edu (Marian H.
Nodine) writes:
>In article <1d8sn4INN9kc@network.ucsd.edu> dlin@weber.ucsd.edu (Diane Lin)
writes:
>>Another of the old "ends justifies the means" logic at work.  Did it
>>ever occur to you that matches and knives and other dangerous
>>objects should not be within a child's access?  That's what
>>childproofing is all about, you know.  As a parent (just for the
>>heck of it, David, are you a parent?) one of my jobs is to create a
>>safe environment for my child, and included in that is removing
>>unsafe items from his reach.
>
>I'm not sure that childproofing is the be-all and end-all here.  First,
>I have an almost-5, very tall kid who can reach almost anything.  Second,
>I have a 23-month-old monkey who *loves* to imitate her big brother.
>
>Consider the scene -- mom is cooking dinner.  I have just chopped up some
>vegetables, and placed the knife (I thought) safely in the middle of the
>counter.  I then add the vegetables to the casserole, mix, and want to
>place it in the oven.  So I encourage the 23-month-old, who is clinging
>to my legs, to please go into the hall while I open the hot oven. 
>Meanwhile, behind my back, my son has dragged his "watching chair"
>over a tiny bit, gotten hold of the sharp knife, and is starting to 
>chop whatever with it (he's a very curious kid).  Now, how does
>childproofing help here?
>
>Scene 2 -- mom is cooking dinner.  I have decided that maybe the kids
>should play in the (childproofed) living room while I cook.  My husband
>has inadvertently left a permanent marker on the mantle.  In the two
>minutes or so between times that I check up on them, my 23-month-old
>has climbed onto the table, grabbed the permanent marker (she loves
>to scribble) and scribbled all over herself, including in her mouth
>(eeek!  are these things poisonous?).

Come on now. What are the alternatives? 1) spank the kid so he/she will never
ever pick up a permanent marker that the husband left in a place she could get
it? or 2) Spank the husband so he would be more careful the next time.

This is something that should have been prevented, but because someone has
become careless it wasn't. So who should be disciplined? The kid for being a 2
year old, courious, and finding that writing with a big marker is fun? Or the
husband. Maybe a good spanking on the husband would garuantee he wouldn't do it
again. Hit the hell outa him, and hope he doesnt hit back.

Seriously, the child is being a child, a curious 2 year old. The marker will
eventually come off. So you have to get the marker away from her, immediately
wash it off, while talking with her about it. Now the child will probably learn
that writing all over herself isnt the thing to do by the tone in your voice,
and your immediate and hurried actions to remove it. The reasoning behind not
writing on her will probably be lost to the 2 year old. 2 year olds wont
understand the phrase "this permanent marker made from the by products of tree
sap will permanently stain and alter the pigmentation of the epedurmus (sp?)
surface".
>

>My point here is that, I can work hard at childproofing to some reasonable
>level, but I am a finite person, and cannot foresee everything.  I also
>do not want to be childproofing forever, so some instruction is needed
>including, I think, occasionally letting the child take the consequences
>of the action.  (Where here "consequences" do not necessarily mean
>spanking)
>
>-- Misty
>



*****************************************************************
John R. Cobarruvias, Texas A&M Class of '78, 
NASA Johnson Space Center Houston Tx.
(713)483-9357

"And to think..................I hesitated" (Hellraiser II)
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