Discipline

My family and I went out to dinner the other night where we saw this mother and her children - four girls ranging in age from about 3-years-old to 7-years-old and a little boy who looked to be about 4. The four girls were standing by very quietly and well-behaved, but their brother? Oh boy, he was such a brat. First, he started crying because he wanted to be carried by his mom. And what did the mom do? She quickly obliged. Then, he started crying and screaming at the top of his lungs because he didn't get his drink right then and there. And what does the mom do? Nothing. At this point, I turned to my own Mom and said, "If that were my child, John and I would take him out back and spank him." It seems that every time I make a comment like this to a veteran parent, they always give me this doubtful look as if to say, "Hmm, you say that now...but just wait..." You see, what I think people tend to forget about me and John is that we're teachers - a majority of our daily lives consists of disciplining children. True, we do teach high schoolers and I understand there is a significant difference between disciplining a 5-year-old versus a 15-year-old, but at least we see firsthand how a kid turns out if they're not disciplined as children. I've been in parent-teacher conferences where the child will actually yell at their parent (seriously, you're gonna let your kid talk to you like that?!) So as a result, John and I are all for spanking our children as a way of discipline. It seems, however, when I tell people this, some look completely appalled as if I'd just said I would abuse them. Mind you, there is a difference and John and I would never cross that line. We just believe that discipline should consist of a combination of spanking followed by a stern talking-to to explain said spanking. And I understand that this will all work in theory and I probably just sound like some naive mother-to-be, but quite frankly, I don't care. As teachers, John and I have formed very strong opinions on raising and disciplining children and we plan on putting those beliefs into action once our Lil Bit is born. 

Any parents out there have any advice on what worked for your children? Let us know!