I have always loved spanking my kids. Not because I am disciplining them. Not because I am angry. Not because they are in trouble. But because I love teasing them by gently swatting their cute little bottoms.
Don’t get me wrong. There have been times when my boys have been completely out of control and I have had to swat them hard. Those times I haven’t loved.
But more often than not I have spanked them for fun. It’s been a little joke in our family. I do it to their dad too.
It has always been fun and games for me to tap their tush as a joke – until my oldest started spanking other adults. Now it’s got to stop.
The game is over. I can no longer teasingly swat my boys’ bottoms. Because we don’t know boundaries. I can’t have them growing up thinking that it’s a salutation.
I’ve got to teach him that it’s not normal.
Right now I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that he’ll swat the backside of mere acquaintances or that he’ll smash his baby brother’s diaper-cushioned bottom. All. The. Time.
I can’t get him to stop. I’ve begged, I’ve pleaded.
I’ve created a monster.
One day after he wouldn’t stop spanking his aunt and uncle I lost it. I shouted at him and spanked him hard.
Oh the irony.
I was trying to spank the spanking out of him.
That’s not going to work. I need a new solution. I can’t fight fire with fire.
What do you do to stop a bad habit? How do you get your kids to change their mindset?
I don’t want to brainwash him, and I admit that this is all my fault, but I need some ideas on how to get him to leave other tushes alone.
Maybe if I completely stop tapping their bums he’ll follow suit. Word of the wise – don’t spank your kids for fun. Reserve that action for the rare, few times that you can’t get to them any other way. In my opinion it should be a last-resort disciplinary measure.
Otherwise you’ll end up with a lot of awkward situations. Like when your son swats the bishop’s bum during church.
I’m so mad I taught him this I could swat my own backside.
Boogers on the Wall 
Jan 30, 2014 @ 07:33:42
Strangely, we just dealt with this yesterday. A boy at school has been smacking Claire on the bottom. I knew it was innocent, but still not appropriate for school. I emailed the teacher and she talked to him. She said he cried and cried. It’s a game he plays with his siblings, apparently. You’re right that it’s all fine until it leaves home. We have the same problem with Kyle tickling adults. Always funny to tickle kids, not funny going the other way. No idea how to solve it though!
Jan 30, 2014 @ 09:02:35
HA! I can’t believe this just happened to you! Hopefully my oldest hasn’t swatted anyone at school. But who knows? Maybe he has. Oh man. This is a hard thing. How do I tell him it’s wrong, when I’ve done it to him his whole life? Hopefully by stopping myself we will all get out of the habit 😉
Jan 31, 2014 @ 07:44:24
We have this exact problem at our house! Hadley goes around doing it to anyone he sees. I’ve tried talking to him about where it is, and is NOT appropriate, and so far he’s never done it at school (that any poor kid has reported, at least), but it’s gotta stop around here too. The problem is, even if I stop doing it to him, it’s never going to stop between Curtis and I and he sees that and knows it’s a loving gesture. So he does it to others. And, like yours, he thinks it’s funny. What to do?…
Feb 06, 2014 @ 10:13:32
Oh Elise I am so glad that we are not the only ones with this problem. I was worried (once again) that I had ruined my children. If you find something that works, let me know!