Kate Gosselin Spanks Daughter. Are You Horrified? Are You Awake?
17 June 2009, 10:31 AM. By Alex Alvarez
InTouch magazine’s cover story this week is about Kate Gosselin “hitting” one of her 5-year-old sextuplets, Leah, and “losing control.” The accompanying photos show the little girl blowing a whistle while Kate is on the phone, Kate becoming angry, the little girl blowing the whistle again and, finally, Kate standing up and spanking her. The magazine contains the caption:
Leah was hurting. The little girl grabbed her bottom in pain. After, Kate walked away while the older sisters led Leah behind the house.
Spanking little kids as a disciplinary measure has been a subject of controversy for some time, but we grew up thinking it was the norm. As we grew up, we noticed a backlash against it and started to wonder if maybe spanking meant something different to “gringos.” It’s just this lack of cultural outsider status and shaming that will lead these people to have terribly vanilla sex lives, we thought. They can’t asked to spanked because they don’t know what it’s like to be punished that way! How terrible for them.
But, on a more serious note, inTouch’s story is entirely blown out of proportion given our own experiences being spanked as a child. For one, it didn’t actually “hurt.” It was more the anticipation of it and the frustration at knowing our parents were upset with us for doing something wrong that made us cry out. Maybe spanking is a shortcut and the easy way out as far as parenting is concerned. Maybe its better to sit your child down and explain why they were in the wrong. But, in our experience, that doesn’t actually work with small kids. They did something wrong (like blow an annoying whistle after your mom tells you to stop) on purpose, either out of boredom or crankiness or to garner attention. They know it was wrong. That’s why they did it.
Anyway. What’s your take on spanking? Did your parents give you spanking - or worse, chancletazos - when you were a tiny, snot-nosed womb troll? Would you spank your kids?
Caught Hitting Her Daughter [inTouch, print version]
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I got chancletazos and we were sometimes threatened with a plancha cord. We even got spanked with belts if our behavior was particularly horrible. My old school parents would do those spankings at home and in private.
If we had to get punished in public (like in church) we got my mom’s lobster claw pinch. It was her undercover move.
OMG! My mom also did The Pinch ™ in public.
Since this is turning into group therapy, i will out my dad for father’s day and say that he once got me with the garden hose. we were outside and it was handy. But normally it was mom who managed to stop me in my tracks with the mere jingle of dad’s belt buckle coming from the closet. That was enough to shut my ass up. And, yes, this was all considered completely normal in those days. I think today’s kids are wimps and their parents are, too.
And The Pinch™ was the worst. Mostly in church, yes.
I got chancletazos too or “voy a pegad”. I got pinched as well and ear pulled. I turned out pretty well. Lil spanking doesn’t hurt for long.
Agree with Cindy. Kids and their parents are wimps nowadays.
The Pinch™ must be part of the Latino Mom Training Academy along with Using Just Your Eyes To Scold.
Using just the eyes as a warning/scolding was one of the most fun things when I was babysitting my cousins back in the day - me and my aunt have the same shape/style of eyes, and I was able to perfectly replicated her “you better listen to me or else” expression, due to it being used on me often when I was younger. Such a great weapon…
chancletazos worse than spanking? i grew up thinking spanking ALWAYS meant getting the belt. and my mom would always tell me “go get the belt” and the stupid thing is i would. crying and sniffling down the hall to her room to the drawer where the (MANY) belts were. in public she’d grab my upper arm and ask “do you want me to embarrass you in front of all these people?”
i always thought kids who didnt get spanked were weak and spoiled
The parents did spanking with the belt only once, and I don’t remember what I did, but I never did that again. Otherwise, my dad was strong enough that just his hand alone hurt like crazy, and if mom was doing the spanking, then she’d either use a flyswatter or have us get a switch from the yard.
But yeah. I’m not messed up. I do think giving adequate warning and letting the kid know the consequences is best before corporal punishment, but I think within reason it’s still a valid disciplinary tool.
(And I want other people to mind their own business, unless they have a legitimate reason to suspect *actual* abuse - I once had some very granola-crunchy guy run up to me in a certain big-box chain store after a mother dragged her tantrum-throwing kid into the ladies room to give the kid a few swats asking “IS SHE HURTING THAT CHILD???” I just kinda said “nah” while giving him the crazy-eye and then hurried along out to my car to get away from Mr. Over-Involved.)
I concur. Whatever I did to earn spankings, I never ever did it again…and I had adequate warning but since I still wanted to be a mocosa, I got what I deserved and am better for it now :)
If I ever have a ‘womb troll’ and someone has the audacity to take issue with my disciplining technique, I might just have to discipline them. But not in the sexy way…
Wow.. I thought my mom was the only one who did The Pinch at church.
Growing up, I got chancletazos, fajazos, manazos and anyother type of ‘azo’ you can thing of, in private of course. Also the look from my dad that say you better watch your ass when we get home.
Now as an adult, if the kid deserves it, then fuck it… but if the kid is being smacked around for no reason, then yeah its wrong.
When I have kids I will disipline them the same way my parents did. Depending on their patients on any given day, they would give us a couple warnings, if we still didn’t listen then we would get spanked.
And my parents are still like that to this day with their grandchildren, they dont give a shit.
My mom threw the first thing she got her hands on - and I wasn’t one of those ‘evil’ kids - she had me in check! My brother on the other hand she let get away with everything.
I think kids grow up with out respecting anyone and that starts at home. Im in no way an advocate for child abuse (letting your kids grow up like animals is also child abuse!), but I will do the pinch or a smack on the butt if it gets there. Usually the eyes do all the talking for me.
LOL @ group therapy - I feel better already! :)
Their ain’t nothing wrong with a little spanking! I got them and I spank my kids too. I did an informal and totally non-scientific study at work one time and a bunch of us were spanked and we all grew up to be totally normal and successful people. I think this whole generation of unspanked kids is backfiring in our face!
The Pinch, The Wooden Spoon and the Matamoscas. The matamoscas hurt the least but I was terrified of getting slapped upside the head with fly guts.
We knew it as a “jarabe de componte.” Its not about pain but more about getting the kids attention. A little fear doesnt hurt either. Some times just a look is enough. However, the face is off-limits. I think getting hit on the face by someone is one of the most humiliating things there is. But I agree, kids today are way out of control with bad behavior in public. And most of the time they are misbehaving with the parents right there with them. I guess its up to the village to raise some kids, obviously parents are inept.
Grani was killer with the chanclas. I swear, were baseball played with shoes instead of a ball and they allowed women, she’d be a hall of fame pitcher. Her aim was deadly - could hit a grandkid across the yard while they were in a full run if they didn’t do what she said.
ChancleTAZO, zapaTAZO, cocoTAZO, heck anythingIcangrabTAZO…we need to establish the TAZO Hall of Fame for us latino children…they’ll gladly accept chanclas, zapatos, belts, hangers, figurines, y el pan con mantequilla our mothers were eating when they threw it at us ! LOL we turned out out to be great adults with a joke or two to spare ! Brindo a los tazos del mundo !
Spanking is for sound and emotional effect, not pain. Although reserved for when an “immediate response” is necessary, it is better than establishing the pattern of “negotiating” with a child when they have no posture from which to do so. That only teaches the child they can whine and mope and scream as their way of negotiating which gets them angrier and upset. I vote “yes” for loud but painless spanking and believe it helps a child think of better ways to cope with frustration than to be a whiner. Now, a father spanking a girl if over a certain age, I think, can be misconstrued by the child as men overpowering her… although probably only if the parent-child relationship was not well established
Why, Guest, if I didn’t know any better, I’d venture to guess you’re not only a wonderful father, but also a brilliant and much sought-after therapist. ;)
or just throw the chancleta
My mom nos chingaba tanto that most of my memories of her are with a belt in her hand running after me. I don’t believe “time-outs” or “naughty matts” could have raised me any better. Plus, she would start sobando me as soon as the belt landed on my skin, so it was all cool. No one said love was easy cabrones!
I usually just got a swat on the thigh, and I got the pinch a couple of times. The only time I was truly spanked was when we were living in Mexico and it was with a rolled up newspaper. I guess the pure Latin American environment of central Mexico made it inevitable that a spanking would happen.