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Spanking-A Loving Discipline: Helpful and Practical Answers for Today's Parents

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Beth Fenimore
September 7, 2005Open Letter to Roy Lessin
Author of Spanking: Why, When, How

Dear Roy,

After 19 years I have found the courage to write you this letter declaring how your choice to teach and write about spanking has affected me. My purpose in writing you this open letter is to share with you and others that the spanking approach you recommend is harmful. My parents both know my view on this issue. I have talked to them, as well, about how their decision to implement your spanking recommendations affected me. I have a mission. My mission is to warn new parents who are innocently trying to raise happy, healthy children. Should just one parent spare their child the kind of pain that I endured at the hands of my parents implementing your spanking recommendations, my pain will have more meaning than it does now.


I want to begin by talking about your spanking approach so that we'll both be using the same language. In your book, you describe a process by which a parent performs a spanking on their child.
The first step is to use the right instrument; if a parent uses their hand, the child might become fearful of the parent's hand.
The second step is to spank promptly.
The third step is to find a private place in which the parent can conduct the spanking.
The fourth step is for the parent to explain to the child why they are going to be spanked.
The fifth step is to get the child into a good spanking position (when my parents and other adults-such as your wife, Char-spanked me, the ritual involved removing the child's clothing); you recommend bending the child over a bed, or bending a smaller child over the parent's lap.
The sixth step is to hit the child on the buttocks with a stick or other spanking implement.
The seventh step is to continue spanking until the child yields a broken cry, which indicates a broken will.
The eighth step is reconciliation. You recommend that parents comfort the child until sufficient time has passed, and then ask the child to stop crying. You recommend that parents spank a child who displays a "wrong attitude" by continuing to cry too long after a spanking.
The language in your book is much more "sugary" than what I've just written. But my description does not come close to what it feels like to receive a Roy Lessin spanking. So I'll describe what a Roy Lessin spanking is like.
My first spanking was when I was six months old. My mother spanked me for crying after she put me to bed. She had to spank me repeatedly to teach me to not cry when she put me down. I know about this incident because my mother used to tell all new mothers about how young I was when she started spanking me. My last spanking occurred when I was thirteen years old. The Roy Lessin spankings that I remember most vividly took place between the ages of three and seven, because I hardly went a few days without a spanking at that time. I'd like to share with you, and others, what it was like receiving a Roy Lessin spanking.
The moment I found out I was going to get a Roy Lessin spanking, I felt physically ill. Because the Roy Lessin spanking is a ritual, the ordeal could take a long time. (When I refer to a spanking ritual, I'm referring to the steps you outline in your book.) This was hard for me because I had a child's sense of time. The dread bubbled up and consumed me, and stayed with me until the spanking ritual was over. My parents usually sent me to a private room, such as my own room, and there I would wait until one of my parents came. (My dad spanked me the most, so in my illustration let's assume my father is conducting the Roy Lessin spanking.) My father would explain the reason for the spanking. This was an excruciating process because I had to listen while knowing what was coming. Since I might face back-to-back Roy Lessin spankings, I had to be careful not to be disrespectful in my listening to my father. I had already developed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and would feel my guts cramp up with anxiety during his speech. Then he would ask me to take off my pants and underwear. I would feel deeply embarrassed because my father was not supposed to see me naked. (My family had a high standard for modesty.) My humiliation and fear would grow immeasurably as I leaned over the bed, my father's knee, or whatever was around. My private parts were helplessly exposed as my dad laid his hand on my back. Trying to pull away and defend myself would only mean that the spanking would be longer, or I'd get a back-to-back spanking. The stick, paddle inscribed with scripture verses, or belt would swish violently through the air before slapping painfully on my buttocks or thighs. I would scream in pain and anguish. I cannot
remember a moment of thinking of resisting, rebelling, or trying to "win" anything, as you recommend parents should watch for as they hit their children. I just tried to survive the best way I knew how. The screaming, the hitting, and the pain would continue for unknown amounts of time. When the gruesome pain ended, I would begin to battle with my emotions and my body. I knew that crying too much could mean that my father would start a Roy Lessin spanking ritual all over again to correct my "wrong attitude."
My parents were never concerned about the marks they left on my body. We never talked about the painful marks on my body, or how clothing, baths, chairs, etc. hurt. The message was clear: there was no pain. Pulling up my pants was incredibly painful, and so was sitting on my father's lap. Because "there was no pain," I had to pretend my buttocks and thighs didn't hurt even though they did, while my father would wrap his arms around me and "comfort" me. I was not like the idealized children you describe in your book, not knowing the difference between the spanking implement and the parent. My father caused me that pain-not a stick! My father's arms scared me, and I feared my father like I've feared no other man. His touch repulsed me. I was the same with my mother. (To this day, I cannot physically tolerate either parent touching me. I feel physically ill at their touch.) My father would pray, and I could hardly go along but for fear of yet another Roy Lessin spanking. After we prayed, it was time for me to be happy. But my insides would be a mess. Tears would threaten to come back and cause me more pain and anguish. I had to pretend that I wasn't sad, and that I wasn't in pain. This would be my greatest lesson: to be happy no matter how I felt inside. It would take me a few back-to-back spankings, but I would learn. It would be a lesson I'd learn for life-being falsely happy regardless of how my body felt.



One aspect of receiving a Roy Lessin spanking is the sexual aspect. It's taken me years to even begin to allow myself to speak of this aspect. You see, as a child I had no idea what sex was. I just had this funny sensation that came and went during the Roy Lessin spanking ritual. To my great dismay, I learned that sexual stimulation can be cross-wired with the painful ritual of spankings. This cross-wiring was a real problem for me. Because I couldn't cope with the double message of love and pain, I avoided developing an intimate relationship with a man for a very long time. It took years for me to find a healthy sexuality outside the memories I have of the Roy Lessin spankings. I struggled with this double message as a child. I feel a deep sense of shame as I remember hitting and torturing my dolls and Barbies when no one was around. I needed some way to express the fear, pain, and sexual confusion I felt inside; yet my childish mind couldn't comprehend the significance of what I was doing.
My parents were your "A" students. They followed your eight steps occasionally reducing the entire Roy Lessin spanking ritual to a few swats-not very often, though. My butt and thighs would sting for a long time after a Roy Lessin spanking ritual, so I'd go into the bathroom and use my mother's mirror to look at my behind. I remember seeing red stripes crisscrossing my buttocks and my thighs. At times, I had old marks underneath the new marks. My parents conducted several Roy Lessin spanking rituals a day when I was a young child. I remember a teacher at school asking me one day why I didn't just sit still. I couldn't tell her that it was because the marks on my butt hurt so bad sitting in the little wooden chair.
Now that we've established what a Roy Lessin spanking is and what it felt like to receive one, let's move on to wrong attitudes. I'd like to begin by telling you a story of what it was like having an adult, in this case your wife, address my "wrong attitude."
One day my parents were moving. I was four, and woke up to a house that I no longer recognized. I asked my mother what was happening. Whatever answer she gave, I didn't understand. She sent my brothers and me to your house, where your wife Char was to baby-sit us. On the way out the door, I saw our small parakeet Chirpy sitting in his cage outside our house near some bushes. Now, Chirpy wasn't supposed to be outside. A dark feeling of dread came over me. I was frightened as I walked to the car, looking at Chirpy frantically chirping in his cage next to a stack of boxes. At some point, at your house, Char put all of us down for a nap. The confusion and fear filled me, and I wondered if I'd ever see my home again. When the room was quiet, my emotions burst out of me. I cried. Char came in and told me to stop, and I couldn't. So she performed one of your spanking rituals. I went back to my napping spot. I lay there for the remainder of my nap-unable to sleep, afraid to move, filled with emotions of dread and fear so large I thought I'd explode. But I had to make Char believe that I was cheerfully obeying her. I put on whatever face I could to convince her, and pretended to be asleep. I had to pretend I felt different than I did inside.
There are two points I'd like to make about bad attitudes. The first is that, as you can see above, adults do not have "powers" that allow them to read the minds of children. My parents made this mistake over and over again. They weren't much better at reading my mind or how I felt than your wife was that day I stayed at your house. You see, parents make mistakes. There's no getting around this. But when a parent uses a force as violent as a Roy Lessin spanking, mistakes are truly damaging, especially when the spanking ritual involves breaking the child's will-or breaking any part of a child's psyche!


The second point about "wrong attitudes" is that you tell parents that their children will be happy with your mode of discipline, or even prefer being spanked. I want to say that I didn't experience that joy. I built myself a cheerful, obedient shell. I lived in that shell, only peeking my head out when I felt safe, for 30 years. It took me another seven years to actually try taking the cheerful, obedient shell off-only to run back into it when something felt like the "old fears of my childhood." I have not been happy living in this shell, constantly pretending to be happy when I felt miserable inside. When I think of a happy child, I think of a child who feels free to express their ideas, thoughts, and emotions. I think that a parent's job is to teach a child how to express their emotions, not hit them with a stick until the child displays the emotion of the parent's choosing.
You write about parents disciplining children for disobedience. It seems pretty simple. The parents set up some rules and the children follow them. When disobedience is based on a child doing or behaving just as the parent asks, following those rules becomes much harder. As your teachings played out in my growing-up years, I found that I violated more rules than I could keep track of. Not only that, one of the rules was to follow through without my mom or dad asking a second time. So perfection became the rule, and perfection was something I failed at miserably. Even in the cheerful, obedient shell, I was not completely safe. The life lesson I took away was that there is no such thing as second chances. I took this lesson to school, and found that I was afraid to try. Not that my parents didn't encourage me-it was just that if the encouragement didn't work, which it often didn't, they'd spank me for getting letters backwards, words wrong on spelling tests, and so forth. Basically, they spanked me for not trying hard enough. I haven't even mentioned the hundreds of other issues they spanked me for. I learned how to live helplessly. Not only did I face my own internal disappointment at not getting something correct, I faced a Roy Lessin spanking at home when I wore out my encouragement. I grew up thinking that I was mentally handicapped. Later, as a grown adult, I found out that I'm dyslexic-something a Roy Lessin spanking would never cure.
For most of my life, I worried that I'd remembered all this wrong. About eleven years ago I called Char and asked her to listen to while I recalled a Roy Lessin spanking for her. I described to her in as much detail as I could remember the beatings I endured again and again. Char told me that my memories were exactly what you and she had taught my parents. I had not remembered wrong!
I read your book a few weeks ago. I was again surprised to realize I knew and remembered your teachings very well. After the years of growing up around your family and hearing you preach at Outreach, your book brought back your painful teachings and the painful memories I've been trying so hard to live with. I kept wanting to grab my cheerful, obedient shell because to this day I feel scared when I think of all the Roy Lessin spankings and teachings.



For almost every day of my life, I fear people. If people like my parents, and friends of my family such as you and Char, would hurt me this badly, what horrible things would others do to me? I was supposed to be safe with my family and friends growing up! I especially fear men in authority roles. I occasionally look even at people I know, and who I know to be safe, with terror just because they've spoken in a tone that reminds me of those early times. I fear making mistakes. I choose not to have children of my own because a child's screams scramble my insides.
Remember all those sermons at Outreach that you, Don Leetch, Dean Kerns, and a few others delivered? I still hear children screaming as their parents spanked them outside the church sanctuary during Sunday morning service during those sermons. I remember the screams of my siblings. I remember on a Friday night, someone was preaching and a dad took a baby outside for a spanking, and a neighbor called the police. We stopped the church service, and you went out with your bible to explain to the officer why it was fine for the parent to spank their baby. All of us inside prayed that the officer would understand and not take the baby away.
As a grown woman I still fear Roy Lessin spankings. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night begging my husband to "not let them get me."


My father and I have talked several times about Roy Lessin spankings. He has asked for forgiveness, and is horrified by what he has done. These conversations have been incredibly painful for both of us, and I'm now 37 years old! I believe that he thought he was doing the right thing. You were a leader in the church he believed in, and you were his friend. Our families socialized together. This was not some teaching he picked up somewhere, and then went off to make the best of it.
I hope that by this point you begin to see how your simple, sweet words about raising children are actually harmful. Perhaps you're wondering if I want to have a dialogue with you, and talk about what you really meant by your early book. Perhaps you've adopted a policy of grace, and now recommend that parents spank less and not on bare skin? The truth is, I don't want to know. If I needed justification or reasoning for your teachings, I could use your book as a reference. What I'd like you to do is reconsider your position after carefully looking at how your teachings affected me. Would a loving parent really want to raise a child to fear people, to wear a cheerful and obedient shell, or to live with PTSD and other ailments? I hope the answer you come to is No. I hope that you realize that hitting a child for any reason is not loving. Then, I hope, you join the cause to end corporal punishment in the homes of children. I came into this world a happy, healthy baby. For no other reason than the Roy Lessin spankings, I now fight for my physical and mental health. Please help others and me so this doesn't happen
to any more children. Help end corporal punishment. Help end child abuse. If Jesus said, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:42), I can't image that God would condone such behavior in people who claim to be loving parents.

Sincerely,
Bethany A. Fenimore

I am a very conservative Christian- we homeschool, don't have rock music in our home, limit TV use, about as conservative as you can get- and we don't spank.
The simple reason: Do I hit my children, or do I teach my children? Hitting is not teaching. And there is nothing to distinguish spanking from hitting but the name (and in England, they're more honest and call it 'smacking') The Scriptures command us to discipline, not to spank. The "rod" is a symbol for authority.
And to Beth, since I can't PM her- if she looks here again- thank you SO much for writing that review. God bless you!
I would recommend "Biblical Parenting" by Crystal Lutton, "The Discipline Book" by Dr. Sears, or "Parenting with Grace" by Gregory Popack for parents looking for discipline ideas based on faith and scientific evidence as to what is best for our children.

Do you notice in those pictures the redness and the bruising of their bottoms. Disgusting!! I am a Christian and God has put it in my heart to never lay a hand on my child. Instead He lead me to research and implement Gentle Discipline and Grace Based Parenting. Not spanking does not equal no discipline. It means better discipline.
Robin

Wow, and if the first one wasn't bad enough! My IQ hurts just looking at the cover...

Well, I said on this yahoo's other book; Spanking: Why, When, How, despite the fact that I am a christian, I never understood or agreed with the book burning mindset- untill I discovered there were writers like Roy Lessin. This is the other Mein Kampf of the parenting section in any library. Reading that excerpt from Spanking: Why, When, How was enough to make me want to scrape my eyes out with a fork. Maybe I'm young and naieve, but can someone explain to me why you get in trouble if you batter a 20 year old, yet it's OK to brutally hit a 2 year old repeatedly, despite the fact that a 2 year old can't defend themself against an adult? Hmm. Thing to ponder about, this is.

To anyone out there who agrees with these books, or let alone, purchases these waste of trees, this one star is for you.

As for Beth, for her absolute courage to share her letter and let it be known to the world that this form of "discipline" is cruelty, to her I give 5 stars, a life-supply of cookies and many shiney objects :D It's time someone stood up for those who's cries go unheard!

What loving parent(s) would inflict such torture on children
in the name of love and discipline?What normal,loving father
would make his daughter take off her pants and underwear and
bend over the bed "in the name of discipline" until she was 13
years old?Where was her mother?If what was done to Beth were to
be done to an adult,you would be arrested for physical and
sexual assault!My heart goes out to this woman for what she had
to endure.The words spanking and discipline dont apply here Mr.
Lessin.The proper words are abuse,malice,perversion,sexualsadism
fetish and every word related to such activity.Oh no Mr Lessin,
i am not a liberal,permissive parent that allows my children to
run wild as you label people who dont buy into your disgusting
advice(training)as you so define it!Beating the emotion out of
children,beating them into submission with such malice,to cause
such stress and humiliation is sickening beyond belief.Mr Lessin
you are a pervert and dare i say not a man of God!Jesus would
never approve of your methods sir,but in fact question your true
motives!

The Bible does not mandate spanking. There is no verse to support this claim that the Bible mandates spanking. The Bible does not forbid spanking, either, but G-d extends His grace upon us and Jesus paid the price for our sins when He died on the cross. If Jesus' finished work of salvation is sufficient to cover my sins (as an adult) how much more is His work on the cross sufficient to cover the sins of innocent little children.

G-d encourages us to be patient, kind, and loving toward one another. There is no exemption for treating children, they deserve a special measure of grace, patience, and gentleness.

The Bible *does* mandate parents discipline children and there are methods of discipline that do not include spanking.

I am the mother of eight children ranging in age from 26 to 6 years of age. I do not spank my children. My oldest is a History major with a GPA of 3.9, My second born is a second year medical student. My third is a Marine who just got home from Iraq. You cannot say a Marine has no sense of discipline. You cannot say a second year medical student has no discipline in her character. You cannot maintain a 3.9 GPA without discipline. My fourthborn is an honor student as well as on the football, wrestling, and rugby team. You cannot do those things without discipline. My fifthborn may well be Valedictorian because she maintains a high GPA (nearly perfect A average) She is going to test for her black belt in Shotokan karate. She won a gold and silver medal in East Coast. You cannot achieve these things without a strong sense of discipline. My children are good g-dly children with a strong sense of discipline and achievement they did not need to be physically beaten to be disciplined or parented in a g-dly fashion.

Children deserve better than to be mindlessly beaten into submission.

Debra Baker

I too was a victim of the horrid abuse advocated by this zealot of an author. 15 years of psycho therapy hasn't been enough to undue the damage. To all you parents wanting to buy this book I beg you to look the other way and run. This book is nothing but a child abuse manual disguised as religion.

It is saddening to see so many parents past and present having been duped and brainwashed into believing that torturing our kids is somehow mandated by God. These false teachers such as Roy Lessin preach their vile and evil satanic doctrine such as wolves disguised in sheep's clothing. Me and so many others of the Roy Lessin generation of the 70's grew up to be metally ill and psychologically destroyed adults. The stories of what has transpired with many of the kids I grew up with who's parents followed Roy Lessin would both shock and disgust any sane person.

I say to anyone who believes that Roy Lessin is following the will of god, you are brainwashed and have been sadly deceived. Roy Lessin is a dangerous cult leader and an evil man. By their fruits you shall know them. The fruits of this satanic religion speak volumes.

It still amazes me[...]can advocate beating a child's sexual parts under the guise of discipline. Yes, the buttocks ARE a sexual area of the body. Deal with it. There is NEVER an excuse to strike a child on ANY part of the body...or to strip a child naked and beat them. How can people condone spanking? If someone foddled a child's buttocks, these same "advocates" of spanking would scream bloody murder. But, it's ok to hit a child's buttocks? Huh? Can someone please explain this double standard? It is absolutely sick that [...]condones removing a child's clothing (which ALSO exposes the child's private areas...a boy's penis and scrotum or a girl's vagina)...and this is acceptable discipline? This author is absolutely sick.

Another entry into the bizzare universe of Christian parenting.
This book is great for parents who want to be hated by kids who will end up in therapy. One of the previous reviewers labeled anti-spankers as being tools of Satan. First, I am not against mild spanking in rare circumstances, but I am against torture.
Lessin' lesson is torture. I must insist that the fundamentalisnt pro-spank theology is dead wrong. First, "the rod" denoted WHIPPING OR FLOGGING in ancient disciplinary style, but not striking the buttocks. To follow the Bible literally, you must whip your children. Second, certain verses in Proverbs and Hebrews 12 can be interpreted in a variety of ways. The standard fundamentalist readings of those passages do not take into account many tools of linguistics and exegesis.
Besides that, the Bible also commands the whipping of slaves and the torture of prisoners. So why aren't Dobson and Ezzo and Lessin on the radio arguing for slavery? Because all of this spanking
is about cultural practice, not theology!
Getting back to the issue, Lessin is advocating abuse. Call it by whatever euphemism you want. I could kill someome and say that murder is not murder but "loving discipline" or "pancakes"
but it would still be murder. It would not be pancakes. Lessin is a prime example of how fundamentalists so ultra-carried-away with a fixed idea-- spanking, davinci code, boycotting rock music, the war on adult entertainment, etc. etc. I wish the self-proclaimed Christians could spend as much time loving their children as they do hating their enemies.
At least Jim dobson thinks that teenage girls should be allowed to shave their legs. I wonder what's the rule is Lessin's church.

Let me start by saying that I have read this book. I am shocked and saddened that a book like this even got published. The fact that it was published under the guise of "Christian" parenting manual is even more disturbing.

I don't recall Jesus ever physically assaulting anyone in the bible, much less a child. In fact, he pretty much shunned violence in every situation. So, whose example do you want to follow?