The Top Terrible 3 Best of the Worst Ways to Discipline Children

Here's a good question for a lot of parents who have children, defiant or not: what are the most effective ways to discipline your children?

Some people live by "time outs" to correct their children's bad behavior. They'd just seat them on the naughty chair, stool, or step on a staircase. They'd set the timer for a few minutes, and keep them there. Most often, it takes place in a rather boring room.

Some others have a better approach to correcting their kids: spanking. They'd use their open palms, a wooden paddle, or a belt to slap the buttocks (bare or clothed) of their defiant children. Sometimes, it can take one light one, and in some other cases, it can take a few lashings.

Many experts agree that being slapped on the buttocks by hand, belt, or some piece of wood can encourage violent behavior or cause mental problems later in life. But there are much worse punishments that go beyond being hit by Mom or Dad. There are much viler punishments that can be easily reported in child abuse cases.

What parenting skills mentally scar a lot of kids? What makes them susceptible to post-traumatic stress syndrome or violent behavior?

Simply put, what are the top 3 most terrible ways to correct the behavior of developing children?

Remember reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, in high school? Well, imagine modern-day Hester Prynnes in jeans and sneakers who hold up or wear versions of their scarlet letters on street curbs. They would be shamed by those who drive or walk by.

I'm not saying that they are holding up big A's for adultery. Parents made them hold or wear those that proclaim their offenses.

Unfortunately, that thought became manifest via those parents with those kinds of parenting styles. They would write signs that said, “I got caught smoking. Ain’t I a butt," “I did 4 questions...and said I wasn’t going to do it…GPA 1.22…honk if I need (an) education,“  or, “My future = shaky.” Then, they would drive their children to the street corner and hold up those signs.

Experts say that those forms of public humiliation are damaging to children. Psychiatrist Wendy Walsh is one of them. “Kids are shamed enough. Every parent unknowingly instills plenty of shame just by shooting a condemning glance or a critical word in the direction of a child. Punishment that involves additional public shame on top of private family shame can be dangerous, damaging and have lifelong effects," she said.

Think of holding signs that said, "I lied to Mom about my grades at school," as pillories of the day. It is sure to damage a child's self-esteem.

Hot sauce is meant to be a seasoning or condiment of various foods. Many people spice up their Pad Thai with Sriracha sauce. Some people coat their Buffalo wings with a mixture of Tabasco and melted butter to make them delectable.

But few people have the gall to use it as a way to effectively punish their children.

Southerners have made the practice of putting drops of hot pepper-flavored liquid into their mouths or dabbing it on their tongues widespread throughout America. They claim that, the practice, called hotsaucing, is effective to curb lying, talking back, or saying bad words. Some of them are the of the Christian faith, and they believe that a spicy sauce can purge traces of Satan out of them.

But putting hot sauce on a child can have negative effects. Many sauces have a lot of capsaicin, which makes chili peppers hot. If regularly done to correct a child, he would suffer from choking due to a swollen tongue and burns in the esophagus. He would be susceptible to allergies as well. Parents can overdo it by having a child eat a plate of food with copious amounts of sauce as punishment. Also, they can do it too much by pouring it into his mouth, and hold it for a long time.

In the military, those who resisted military orders because of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion, known as conscientious objectors, would take a cold shower until they give in to service.

Imagine if parents did the same thing to their kids just because they got in trouble at school.

How can showers with cold water be such a bad punishment? Well, children are not developmentally used to colder temperatures in the water. Having them take those showers poses their risks for pneumonia and other ailments. They prefer nice, warm, comforting baths instead. Also, in some cases, they can be afraid to take showers later in life because their mothers made them take them for being fresh to the teacher.

Parents who are ineffective in child discipline dream up with the most bizarre punishments that can be candidates for child abuse. Unless they find methods that can correct their kids without risking injuring, mentally scarring, or even killing them, they will continue making their lives horrible with improper child rearing.

Those are three methods of discipline that are worthy of Child Protective Services custody cases.