I was spanked occasionally as a child, but don’t need therapy for it. No big deal.

As a parent I realized that spanking just wasn’t something I felt comfortable doing as a form of punishment. I think my first child being a girl had a big impact there too.

Then my second kid came along and had some complete melt down moments that started as a 2 year old. In one of these moments I had no idea what to do to get him to snap out of it/change, so in the back of our van parked outside of the Griffith Observatory I spanked him. It was two spanks, hard, but nothing that would make a mark or do serious damage. Also made sure I had taken some deep breaths and wasn’t doing it out of anger. Just desperation.

It didn’t work and just made it worse, so I’ve crossed that experiment off my list and haven’t/won’t do it again.