As you can see, there are a ton of benefits to having your child build a gift themselves. At a young age this is obvious, but even as they grow older and into their teens this should be something you encourage. Building a gift is easy. Different levels of skill can accomplish different things of course, but mediums are fairly similar across all ages. You can encourage child to make you a card or a picture. You can give them clay or plaster and let them sculpt. Or you can suggest they write you a poem, or a story, or frame some nice pictures they take. You should play to child’s interests. If you get them started on an art form for a single project, it could click and give them a hobby for years to come, while expanding their horizons. Try and get them to be creative, and stretch their limits. Most important of all, be encouraging, child is a new artist, and so will be hesitant about their work. This is your chance to help their self esteem at early stages of a new craft.

One interesting comment was from a mother who said she only spanked her child when kid was outright defiant. Well, you know, I wanted to consider that option for about two seconds! When my older daughter is defiant, my immediate instinct is to smack her ... but I don't. She is now an inch taller than I am and almost outweighs me. Not a good time to start swatting her butt. She'd either laugh at me or hit me back. Neither option seems conducive to maintaining authority! As much as that option sounded tempting, it is not answer. If we are to grow as a people, we need to adopt more humane methods of teaching our children to behave.

The comment that disturbed me most was from parents who said they did not spank their child "right away." The child is told they are going to be spanked while parent goes somewhere else to "calm down" before doling out dreaded punishment. Sorry, this one gives me willies. To me, this is a method of psychological torture. Imagining a small child, probably a toddler (or an adolescent reduced to a toddler's fears) in this situation tears at my heart. If I were a child, waiting patiently for a spanking, I think I would seriously consider running away. Why stick around for a parent who is going to come back, irrationally calm in face of my utter terror, and let them hurt me? I do not think this is a good idea, no matter what circumstance. I would rather see a parent swat a kid on butt from sheer frustration, as in situation with a defiant child, than meditate on it a while and then do deed. I'm sure I have just contradicted parenting advice many of you have heard by experts. These experts do not rate one inch in my life. I cannot imagine a competent child psychologist thinking that this is OK.

I am 100% committed to a no-spanking philosophy. I believe spanking will be outlawed in most countries within a few years. This practice has been a traditional tool of discipline for far too long.

Please, my dearest readers who do not share my opinion, I ask that you consider alternatives. Many parents spank, simply for lack of a better solution. There are other solutions. It's not always easy, I know. Spanking is probably easiest method of momentarily whipping a child in line, however, if we are armed with alternate choices that really work, we will be better parents.