Violence - A Family Tradition: Robbyn Peters Bennett at TEDxBellingham

I just interviewed Alfie Kohn about the pervasive cultural belief that we are spoiling children (which I believe is a reaction to the elevation of children's rights and a pervasive aggressive attitude we carry toward children.)  Here is the interview, but even more importantly a link to the no-spank-challenge which is a series of podcasts, interviews and articles from over 25 clinicians and educators on alternatives to spanking.

It is a great resource for anyone with whom you are trying to begin a dialogue about how we really need to be treating our children.

http://stopspanking.org/3434-2/

This is such a powerful message - thank you so much for sharing this :)

I just had to share this video on Facebook after seeing a picture posted that said "My parents spanked me as a child..as a result I now suffer from a psychological condition known as 'respect for others'." This makes me sad. I have worked with several families over the years who now have members in prison...getting beat was a big part of their lives as discipline. I know it is an uniformed viewpoint, but frustrating nonetheless. 

Thank you so much Lee!

Thank you very much for posting this! I spend a lot of time speaking with teachers and staff about trauma and ACEs and how that impacts the behavior that they are using to communicate with us. The experiences below the surface....or outside of school...are often overlooked. I intend to share this starting tonight. 

Yes that is so exciting!  I hope it gets around, because it is more likely that TED.com will then pick it up and promote it.  Thank you so much for sharing it!  Yes, the timing is interesting isn't it?

Thank you for being courageous about sharing your story, Robbyn. Your son must be very proud of you. Have you seen how many "shares" your Facebook post has already? Over 600 shares this morning....

I shared it on Family and Home Network's FB page and retweeted you. I hope lots of people here on ACESConnection share via social media!

I think this is great timing too - just before Thanksgiving.... when families get together, differences in child rearing practices can cause a lot of tension. And there is the pressure (internal or external) on parents to make kids behave.

Catherine, I had a coach help me with the speech and she helped me strip out about 75% of the data and add in personal story.  It was very difficult and made me feel incredibly vulnerable.  I realize now that to be effective we have to give all of ourselves.  When I asked my son if I could share our story, he said "go for it ma," but I was so upset by the idea at first.  I spent a night sobbing in fear and agony that I would have to share something that I feel so much shame around.  But I realized, isn't that what every mother feels?  Why should other mothers have to feel that way alone?  I'm so happy I did it.

Robbyn - this is fantastic! Repeating what I posted on StopSpanking's Facebook page:  Telling your own story about spanking is such a great way to reach out to parents and offer them both understanding and a push toward change. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much Loren.  Please share it with your community!