dragon-in-a-fez:

fullpraxisnow:

If you have to terrorize your child to get them to respect you you’re not teaching respect, you’re teaching blind obedience to a violent power structure. You’re teaching them to be the bystander who watches a cop beat a person to death, to be the person who keeps walking when they see a man strike his partner, to be the person who watches a peer bullied in school – you’re teaching your child to embody the nothing-done while oppression triumphs.

accurate, but also please remember that violence (physical or psychological) against children is not wrong because of what it teaches them that they carry into their interactions with others, it is wrong because they are people with the right to safety and respect. you shouldn’t need to think about possible future knock-on effects to understand that terrorizing a child is wrong.