She should be locked up.

This is a very old dog training "punishment". But, it is no longer an acceptable practice.

:jawdrop:

I think its terrible having a child consume anything as a form of punishment. I cant imagine how these kids feel when they are forced to have hot sauce! Even adults cannot eat a spoonful of hot sauce...imagine a toddler.. sounds like a torture to me.

...and what are those links?

The first one goes on about how a person defending it was a Mousekateer and then went on to be a semi-famous child actress ... as if that gives her use of it as a punishment more credibility?

They also mention the religious beliefs of the people they are using to argue each side? What does that have to do with anything?

3 and 5? I'm a grown woman and a spoonful of hot sauce would be torture. I'm all for punishing bad behavior, even a swat on the butt if it's called for but this seems extremely harsh to me.

It is NOT supposed to be a spoonful!!!! OMG someone needs to tell her that it is to be a drop IF she is going to do it! But i don't do it, I think there are better ways to get the point across. I like this one a lot, say they hit each other, put them in time out only make them sit on their hands to remind them that they are to be used to hit. You do that with whatever they do wrong like if they say something they shouldn't make them hold their hand over their mouth. Get the idea?

As a lover of very spicy foods I'd worry that this would cause my children to hate spicy food. I wouldn't want to close off the wonderful world of Indian, Indonesian, Thai and Mexican dishes to them.

I've never heard of this before but I don't think it sounds right. There are other ways of disciplining in my opinion.

Nope, not appropriate .... ever .... in my opinion.

A punishment should be physical and immediate. Standing with the nose firmly planted in the corner. Writing dozens, hundreds or thousands of sentences (age appropriate), or blistering a bare ass with a belt, paddle, hand (age appropriate).

Maybe it is appropriate to wash a kids mouth out with soap for cursing but forcing a kid to consume a chemical is never appropriate including hot sauce or vinegar.

In the case of our son (my SS) hot sauce would not be a punishment. The kid loves hot food.

IMHO of course.

Best regards.

Well...I got the "hot sauce" treatment. I think I had said a swear word (I can't remember my age, but my parents were still married, so before I was 10 years old), and my dad sauced me. I think it was just a couple shakes of hot sauce, then I had to swallow it, then I was sent to my room to think about what I had said. It didn't stop me from cussing but, it didn't stop me from loving my dad either. I have given it thought many times as I raise my own daughter, but she would just ask for more! I guess I'm a little different than most, because I don't see a huge problem with it (in moderation...a whole spoonful-certainly not!). Painful?...sure is, but so is a belt/hand/paddle to the butt. I guess I don't see much difference....

I hope this doesn't turn into a flame war but this is the problem I have with "punishments" instead of "discipline" - hot saucing, spanking (and yes, I realize there are a lot of users who fully back spanking and I respect that as their choice) or anything similar: what do they learn from it? Yes, it will help them refrain from doing that behaviour out of fear of that punishment but that doesn't teach why that behaviour is unacceptable and therefore doesn't give a lot of reason for them to refrain from it if the parent isn't around. If you hot sauce a 4 year old for, say, colouring on the walls or the table, they won't do it in the home - what about at school or friends/relatives' houses? The parent isn't always there to hot sauce.

Instead, for me, a better option would be to explain that when we colour on surfaces that aren't paper, it needs to be cleaned or replaced and subsequently have the kid scrub it clean themselves or with minimal help from me. I like disciplines that have logical consequences because that teaches them the hows and whys and they can use that as they get older. In the real world, if you damage something that isn't your property you don't get hot sauced or spanked, you need to pay to repair it. I know this is just one example, but that's my general thinking when it comes to discipline and consequences. I don't want to shame a child into behaving properly or have them on perfect behaviour because they're scared I'll hurt them in some way - I want to teach lessons and have logical consequences so they understand why it's wrong and can start learning to think and make positive decisions even if I'm not there.

As far as hitting siblings, that's when you separate them or, if it's over a toy or something, remove the toy if they aren't able to share nicely. Another thing I might try would be to redirect one of their attention elsewhere to another toy. If the issue was "not listening", which is pretty vague, then I think some of the fault lies in the parent. Don't waste time and energy in a power struggle with a child - there is no power struggle. You are the adult. If they don't listen in that they don't do something you ask, you take away whatever seems to be distracting them from doing what you asked them to. If they don't listen in that they do something you've told them not to, you don't allow them the opportunity to do whatever it was - playing with something they aren't supposed to (take it and keep it away from them), going into a room they're not supposed to (lock the door), not coming when you ask them to come over (go physically get them). I know these are all pretty simplistic examples but it's the general principle of giving them the information and opportunity to make good decisions and if they don't remove the problem until they're able to.

Again, I realize not everyone agrees with that theory and that's fine - this is just, for me, a better fit.

I wouldn't necessarily consider it abusive. But I wouldn't do it. We don't spank our kids either. To me, it just doesn't make any sense. I am all about natural consequences for bad behavior.

If my kids hit each other, they go to their rooms. The logic? If you choose to hit someone, you are showing that cannot be around other people right now.

Hot saucing makes no sense to me? You hit your brother....so you get to eat hot sauce? Huh? How does that even connect to the crime.

Same with spanking. You hit your brother...so I'm going to hit you because we don't hit??? Again, that makes no sense.

You hit your brother. That shows me that you cannot be trusted around other people right now. You need to spend the evening in your room. Makes perfect sense, right?

My dad tried this with one of our dogs that had a habit of chewing up the fence. It did not work, the dog ended up licking the entire fence and LOVED it.

I have never used hot sauce as a punishment, but I think I would for a little older toddlers/kids if they kept on swearing or mouthing off. A drop or 2, but not a WHOLE spoonful. As far as vinegar goes, it's just bad smelling and tasting, but it would actually clean the kids out in the end that would probably make me throw up though. The soap would make kids sick too. So any of these punishments is going to have a reaction and if your really against it, have DH try to talk to BM again.

I grew up in the South and have family all over the South and have never, ever heard of this as a punishment. ??? This sounds like an urban myth, to me.