5 ms·

Free range parenting laws are also being passed to codify the right to spank and physically disciplined children. That's why you find them being passed in con

by HNTW 4y ago

Free range parenting laws are also being passed to codify the right to spank and physically disciplined children. That's why you find them being passed in conservative and ultra-religious states: Utah, Texas, Oklahoma

deanCommie 4y ago
And to force schools to disclose information that their children don't feel safe revealing to them (like LGBTQ status), knowing that it could cause their religious parents to completely destroy their lives through things that are banned in most of the civilized world but not in the US (conversion therapy, etc) It's a tough balance.
- thucydidesofusa 4y ago
  [flagged]
- 64bittechie 4y ago
  [dead]
- awesomeMilou 4y ago
  > It's a tough balance. Sarcasm? We have both privacy and free roam rights for children in germany. Talk about sane legislature!
  - rendall 4y ago
    Agreed. As an American raising a child in Europe, it's also strange that what I believe to be perfectly reasonable positions like "My child should have the right to play outside unbothered by police or busy-bodies", are not only opposed, but opposed because of other unrelated culture-war reasons. The reasoning seems to be that because (e.g.) some states allow parents to hit their children or otherwise do things that (I agree) are reprehensible, therefore parents should not have the right to allow their children outside. Baffling.
  - coryfklein 4y ago
    And yet home schooling is completely illegal in Germany, something that would be a complete deal breaker for me. But perhaps that speaks more to how bad public school is in the US, maybe it's freaking amazing in Germany?
    - ihaveabeardnow 4y ago
      I'm with you on this. Maybe it speaks a bit to opinions on public schools in the US, but even free access to the best public school in the world doesn't (imo) give someone the right to force it on others.
- wolfgangK 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - Macha 4y ago
    Conversion therapy is the process of industrial scale bullying LGBT children into presenting as straight, with many such places going miles past the line of child abuse. It's nothing to do with SRS, which is not offered to children anyway, so your dislike of that is irrelevant.
    - hubankub 4y ago
      [flagged]
  - SauciestGNU 4y ago
    Conversion therapy is a form of torture usually based in Christianity that uses coercion and psychological pressure to force queer people to "fix" themselves and identify as cisgender heterosexual.
mcv 4y ago
This is the most bizarre thing that I will never understand about the US. Everything is about protecting the children from imagined harm, even if the "protection" is causing much more harm, but beating kids is totally fine. CPS may take away your kids if you let them play outside, but not if you beat them.
- Wyoming23 4y ago
  Spanking a child and beating a child are two completely unrelated things. It's my understanding that spanking isn't the optimal way to discipline children and still shouldn't be done, but conflating it with beating a child is ridiculous and offensive.
  - tsgagnon 4y ago
    Spanking a child and beating a child are two completely unrelated things. Yes, striking your child to teach them a lesson is definitely completely unrelated to striking your child out of anger/frustration. Definitely no connections there at all.
    - coryfklein 4y ago
      I guess folks have different definitions of the words? To me, a "spank" is usually a mild to moderate slap on the rear, a part of the body particularly well cushioned that can handle it just fine without physical trauma, not to mention psychological trauma. When I think of a child who has been "beaten", I imagine repeated bludgeoning across the body, often with a tool, and usually with visible bruising and possible laceration and bleeding. If you've ever been a parent, regardless of whether you think spanking is OK, you know that there is a huge difference between these two activities. I personally avoid physical discipline myself, but I can understand a parent who decides to give their kid a spank on the rump after the child did something where they didn't understand how seriously negative the implications were. For example, if 5 year old runs out into traffic on a busy road and you pull them back, which form of discipline is more likely to negatively incentivize the impulse to dash into the street to get a penny? I can see why someone would think that the short – but sharp – pain of a quick spank is more effective at protecting the child's short and long term health.

by HNTW 4y ago

deanCommie 4y ago

And to force schools to disclose information that their children don't feel safe revealing to them (like LGBTQ status), knowing that it could cause their religious parents to completely destroy their lives through things that are banned in most of the civilized world but not in the US (conversion therapy, etc) It's a tough balance.

thucydidesofusa 4y ago
[flagged]
64bittechie 4y ago
[dead]
awesomeMilou 4y ago
> It's a tough balance. Sarcasm? We have both privacy and free roam rights for children in germany. Talk about sane legislature!
- rendall 4y ago
  Agreed. As an American raising a child in Europe, it's also strange that what I believe to be perfectly reasonable positions like "My child should have the right to play outside unbothered by police or busy-bodies", are not only opposed, but opposed because of other unrelated culture-war reasons. The reasoning seems to be that because (e.g.) some states allow parents to hit their children or otherwise do things that (I agree) are reprehensible, therefore parents should not have the right to allow their children outside. Baffling.
- coryfklein 4y ago
  And yet home schooling is completely illegal in Germany, something that would be a complete deal breaker for me. But perhaps that speaks more to how bad public school is in the US, maybe it's freaking amazing in Germany?
  - ihaveabeardnow 4y ago
    I'm with you on this. Maybe it speaks a bit to opinions on public schools in the US, but even free access to the best public school in the world doesn't (imo) give someone the right to force it on others.
wolfgangK 4y ago
[flagged]
- Macha 4y ago
  Conversion therapy is the process of industrial scale bullying LGBT children into presenting as straight, with many such places going miles past the line of child abuse. It's nothing to do with SRS, which is not offered to children anyway, so your dislike of that is irrelevant.
  - hubankub 4y ago
    [flagged]
- SauciestGNU 4y ago
  Conversion therapy is a form of torture usually based in Christianity that uses coercion and psychological pressure to force queer people to "fix" themselves and identify as cisgender heterosexual.

mcv 4y ago

This is the most bizarre thing that I will never understand about the US. Everything is about protecting the children from imagined harm, even if the "protection" is causing much more harm, but beating kids is totally fine. CPS may take away your kids if you let them play outside, but not if you beat them.

Wyoming23 4y ago
Spanking a child and beating a child are two completely unrelated things. It's my understanding that spanking isn't the optimal way to discipline children and still shouldn't be done, but conflating it with beating a child is ridiculous and offensive.
- tsgagnon 4y ago
  Spanking a child and beating a child are two completely unrelated things. Yes, striking your child to teach them a lesson is definitely completely unrelated to striking your child out of anger/frustration. Definitely no connections there at all.
  - coryfklein 4y ago
    I guess folks have different definitions of the words? To me, a "spank" is usually a mild to moderate slap on the rear, a part of the body particularly well cushioned that can handle it just fine without physical trauma, not to mention psychological trauma. When I think of a child who has been "beaten", I imagine repeated bludgeoning across the body, often with a tool, and usually with visible bruising and possible laceration and bleeding. If you've ever been a parent, regardless of whether you think spanking is OK, you know that there is a huge difference between these two activities. I personally avoid physical discipline myself, but I can understand a parent who decides to give their kid a spank on the rump after the child did something where they didn't understand how seriously negative the implications were. For example, if 5 year old runs out into traffic on a busy road and you pull them back, which form of discipline is more likely to negatively incentivize the impulse to dash into the street to get a penny? I can see why someone would think that the short – but sharp – pain of a quick spank is more effective at protecting the child's short and long term health.