Growing up in Texas I feel like every child was taught that southern mothers don’t play about their children disrespecting anyone. That doesn’t necessarily mean the parents were just out here getting extremely physical with children, but if you grew up in a household as I did, you knew that if you didn't respect an adult and do what you were told to do, you can find yourself serious consequences, like a spanking. Just like a lot of parents, when I was growing up, gentle parenting was not really a part of the conversation.

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HARD HEAD MAKES A SOFT BUTT

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If you decided to act up in school, church, or even at the grocery store, you could bet your bottom dollar that your hide would be cherry red after a nice spanking from a parent. As the world begins to change, a lot of incidence, such as spankings, and even someways, you talk to children are treated a lot differently. I've heard a lot of boomers say all the time, "this generation is extremely soft". Even though I don’t necessarily agree with my generation being as soft as I would prefer it to be, it did have me asking certain questions that I need answers to. Is it legal to spank your child here in Texas? I really remember growing up going to grocery stores and if a child was acting up, a mother was very quick to pop their child on their bottom to get them back in order. Nobody called the cops and no one put it on a social media live, it just happened and everyone was over it.

 

IS IT ILLEGAL TO SPANK YOUR CHILD IN TEXAS?

If the first day of preschool didn't start strong, maybe next year's photo will be better. (Getty Images)
If the first day of preschool didn't start strong, maybe next year's photo will be better. (Getty Images)
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According to Texas Law Help.Org, physical discipline of a child is legal in Texas and does not necessarily constitute child abuse. It is not unusual to disagree about how a child should be handled, but it’s still not considered illegal. What does confuse me about the law when it does come to punishing a child is, if a child is showing signs of lasting marks, bruises, burns, broken bones, or other physical injuries that will be considered likely to be abuse. Even though there is a very fine line when it comes to what is considered, legal and illegal, the reality of it is, you can discipline your child without any real consequences as long as there are no marks. As a parent myself, I just try my best to use a more gentle alternative due to the fact that I remember being spanked, and how traumatizing it was for me, but as a Texan who has children it’s really up to you and your decision on how you handle your kids.

 

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