Shaking the World Gently

IN A GENTLE WAY WE CAN SHAKE THE WORLD.

~Mahatma Gandhi

Of Note: Well, it's official. Corporal punishment--called spanking in my day--is not good for children. The task force appointed by the American Psychological Association has concluded that "parents and caregivers should reduce and potentially eliminate their use of physical punishment as a disciplinary measure." I'm wondering why we ever thought it was good in the first place. Most of us would not think of disciplining animals by physical force so why we would conclude it would be good for children? Maybe because it seems to work so well short-term. However, the evidence examined by the group showed a long-term correlation between corporal punishment and increased childhood anxiety and depression, increased behavioral problems and impaired cognitive development. Not everyone agreed, of course. One detractor said that spanking along with others forms of non-contact punishment resulted in similar negative outcomes. Another thought that it should be held as a backup when other forms of punishment did not work. The APA will sort all of this out and issue its official recommendations at a later date. In the meantime, parents might take note of the preliminary findings.

Today's Weather Report: We are back to the 20's Fahrenheit. And cloudy--though yesterday was a bright sunshiny day. Seems we are having a day of clouds and then a day of sunshine. That's better than November which is historically cloudy 90% of the time. I noticed when in Hayward yesterday that the town is having a difficult time with piling the snow next to roads. In one case, the snow took up half a lane. Thankfully, this particular road has three lanes--one in each direction and a turning lane. I think I might have spotted Brett Favre at the Hayward Wal-Mart last Friday. If it wasn't him, it was his identical twin wearing an expensive Green Bay Packer Superbowl jacket.