Raising Children

You know, being the oldest of four kids and growing up around kids of all ages, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what it was going to take to be a parent. I'm starting to figure out that the more I think I know..... I DON'T KNOW JACK! LOL! I'm just full of a lot of opinions that come from what I've seen and heard. There is so much to learn about the way that a child functions, reacts, thinks, behaves... and the list goes on! We've been studying Child Psychology in class for the last two days and there are so many things that you don't think about.
For example let's take the concept of spanking. (so controversial, I know!) There are so many simple ideas on this subject but "in the heat of the moment" they never cross your mind. (Disclaimer: I am in no way against spanking your children when needed.) If you spank your child everytime you go into the pantry to find that they have eaten all of the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms cereal box and then turn around and spank your child for running into the street where there is oncoming traffic, what have you taught them? Essentially..... nothing. Obviously eating all the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms box is no where near as life threatening as running into oncoming traffic! The child has to be able to distinguish between the different levels of punishment.
I, in no way, think that it could be "easy" to be a parent nor do I think that parents should be expected to be perfect. What I do think is that parents need to spend more time investing in their children. They need to find creative punishments that are effective with their child on their childs level of understanding. Every child has a different and unique way of learning, even when they are the same age. They are all different. (thank god!) If parents would take the time to get to know what makes their children tick and think ahead about discipline I think they would find a lot of relief in their own creativity!