TL;DR: After thinking about the scientific study that was on reddit today, and considering my own son, I came to the conclusion that spanking is breaking frame with your child and is not masculine at all.

Story time guys. I don't post often, because truthfully I don't have much to say, and I like to read more than I like to speak. But I had to share this thought. I am sure many people saw the post on the science subreddit about the spanking study that was done. It was a fascinating read, and the comments were equally fascinating. I am, as my post history reveals, a father to a son, and think a lot about TRP in regards to how I raise him.

A couple of policies I live by when being a father:

I am very hands off when he is playing or exploring. I believe strongly that overparenting is unhealthy, and kids, especially boys, need to be able to figure things out for themselves and explore. This establishes independence, curiosity, strength, etc.  I answer all those annoying questions. Yes they can be annoying. But my observation is that many moms, especially single moms, get annoyed at their kids asking questions. They're kids, they're curious, and as a parent, its on you to teach them certain things. Feed their curiosity, don't stifle it because you're too lazy to explain things. When I get frustrated, I think about my single mom, and how she got frequently annoyed with questions, and it helps me remember why I promised I would always answer my sons' questions. 

3) Finally, I hold frame--which brings me to spanking. I don't believe in it, but there's some different aspects here that I had not considered. I found out on Sunday that my ex-girlfriend's mom had recently spanked our son, and I asked her calmly if it made him stop misbehaving. She said no, to which I responded, maybe it's a dumb idea to try it again. She didn't say anything.

After thinking on that for a couple days, and reading this study, I realized something. This doesn't establish authority, at least not really. It may (MAY) work short term, no disagreement. But long term, you're actually breaking frame. The best way to parent is to remain calm, collected, and methodical. Logic always works best. If my son doesn't eat dinner, he does not get a snack. If he goes to bed late, he has to take a nap the next day. If he says something mean, I don't speak to him without an apology (unless of course, it's an emergency). He learns that to get what he wants, he has to do certain things. He has to have the discipline to control himself, to make smart choices.

When you spank, you actually break frame, because you lose your cool. You allow the kid's behavior to dictate YOUR actions and reaction, rather than helping the child see how their decisions don't get them what they want. Furthermore, it teaches them that when they are bigger and stronger than you, they can ignore you. My mom, for example, stopped being able to discipline me at age 13, when I stopped letting her hit me.

I get that some of you may disagree. That's fine. In any case, I know this works for me, and if it helps you, great. If it doesn't, fuck me I guess!