I met a fellow who works at a local pet store. He told me, when he was a little boy, his father explained to him that fish will grow according to the size of the aquarium they live in.

That night the little boy took his dad’s angelfish out of their small aquarium and put them in the bath thinking, “This should make them grow really big.”

The fish kid’s dad spanked him for his action, which he described as leaving “his ass pretty red.”

Home-run-hitting king Mark McGwire and his brother do not talk. According to a recent book written by his brother, they do not communicate, because in 2002, his brother’s son, Jay, tickled Mark, which caused him to spill coffee on himself. The hulking baseball giant subsequently turned around and spanked his nephew.

Why are these grown men hitting children?

The fish kid was presented with a formula by the man whom he trusted. He then did what children do. He experimented – not a bad idea at all, and quite creative. He put the fish in a larger body of water. His father then turned around and showed him how wrong it was to listen to him and made sure his boy was afraid of him. “Don’t be curious,” he essentially said, “and feel unsafe when I’m around.”  

Mark McGwire showed his nephew how unsafe it was to express himself affectionately and cutely toward him and showed him: “When you do, I will hit you.” Would McGwire responded similarly if an adult had done the same?

Children are easy targets for anger. They are small and simple to bully. Do spankers truly believe that hitting children is for the best of that youngster? Is humiliating a little person in their interest – is it a positive way of teaching them lessons in life – or is spanking really an expression of the adult being unable to control his/her anger?

It is clear that many people subscribe to the belief that spanking teaches children life lessons. It is, in fact, an age-old tool used for child rearing and is condoned, and encouraged, in many environments. A very rational and sensible friend told me he has spanked his children, however very infrequently and never when he was angry. He explained there have been times when he felt the only way his child would finally learn something inordinately important – such as stopping at a red light – was if he was spanked.

He said that was not the first course of action, but it was the last and was never administered aggressively or in public. He added, “It could save his life.”

Studies show that spanking and corporal punishment delay exploratory skills later on in life. There is also evidence that corporal punishment can create a bullying child, and that later on in life, aggressive behaviour is insignificant to him/her.

While I recognize that parents are forever tired and at times reasoning, logic and explanations are out of the realm of possibility, I fail to see the advantage of physically hitting or spanking a child.

While some parents ideologically believe spanking is the right thing to do and administer it sparingly, it seems that most hit their children out of anger and regret it later on. I can understand why, as being hit by a parent is humiliating. It is embarrassing and weakening for all involved.

The fish kid’s ass hurts to this day, not physically but in his head. He never put an angelfish in the bath again, and he grew up scared of his dad. How good is that?

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