SPANKING THE CHILDREN? MY GOODNESS!

FROM THE JOURNAL

Parents that want their young children to avoid drug and alcohol abuse in later life should spank them occasionally, send them to church, and not let them drink until they are at least 15 years old.

These are the recommendations of Dr. F.S Tennant, Jr. an M.D. and Ph.D, professor of epidemiology, U. of C. at Los Angeles. The advice may sound old-fashioned but is based on results of Dr. Tennant's study of more than 5,000 young soldiers. Most of the men who did not use drugs or alcohol went to church regularly as children, or were spanked occasionally.

Another factor that correlated was drinking at an early age, before 15. Out of a battery of possible factors, these three were the only ones that correlated, and Dr. Tennant thinks authorities should recommend that parents discipline their children accordingly.

At the beginning of the study, Dr. Tennant expected results would bear out the idea that if children were taught to play a lot of games and participate in sports, they would build self-esteem that would help them refrain from drinking in later life. But this was not the case.

According to the data, childhood games, parent's drinking habits, marital bliss and a number of similar factors did not correlate with use of drugs and made absolutely no difference.

The study sampled soldiers including both drug addicts and non-users in the 18-24 years age range. Approximately 70 per cent of those who did not use drugs went to church as children or were spanked occasionally. Twenty percent began drinking before age nine but drinking before age 15 turned out to be the crucial cut-off point to steer youths away from drug and drink.

DON says: Please do not shoot the messenger! I am only quoting from the Journal, a very prestigeous News outlet of the government. It is certainly not politically correct in our age, but was relevent some time ago.