Is it right?

 When it comes to my little Olive I'm a huge sucker. But Saturday morning I wasn't in the mood for her tantrums at all. Olivia had been whining and crying all morning and when it was time for her to eat she pushed me past my boiling point. Olivia wouldn't eat her food because she wanted soda, but she had to eat her food first, so what did she do? She threw her food off the table and all over the floor and demanded for soda. A sudden rage fell over me and I punished her by giving her a good spanking on her butt. It was the first time that I ever spanked her and I felt like a complete jerk. I only smacked her on the butt once and that was enough to make me feel like the most horrible person on earth. But why?

  As a child I was always spanked if I didn't listen so there is a part of me that says it's okay that I spanked Olivia. But there is a part of me that says just because I was hit and my parents were hit it's still not okay to ever put your hands on a child no matter the reason. I couldn't decide which one is right so I asked my parents, grandma and sister what they thought. 

 "Yes, when words don't get through to a kid then as a last resort you have to hit them" is what my mom said. 

I then asked my dad the same question; Is it okay to hit your kids?

"It's alright to hit your kids to a certain extent because if you just beat them then you're not teaching them discipline, you are just making them fear you and that's not parenting."

 "Yes, but you should only hit them on the butt" is what my grandma said.

 "When Olivia just doesn't listen after all the yelling I do to try to get her to do what I say I just have to spank her so she knows that I'm serious." 

  They all said that hitting your child was alright to do as a last resort and only to a certain point. Being Mexican, I expected them to say that because everyone in my family including cousins uncles aunts and everyone in between was hit as a child. Then I thought to myself, what would a white woman say? What would a black woman say? Would the white woman say that it's never okay to hit a child even though her son cusses at her and disrespects her? What would the black woman say? 

  I don't think it matters what color your skin is or what family you were raised in. People all over the world have their own ways of punishing and disciplining their children. I don't plan on being a parent anytime soon, and that makes me really happy because I wouldn't know what to do. Do I spank this kid or take the risk of him walking all over me because I never physically punished him? This is the challenge that parents face with their children and I feel bad for them. I gave my sweet little Olive one slap on the butt and I felt like scum so I can only imagine what they go through.