The only time it ever makes sense to hit a kid is where you can’t lead by example. From a child’s perspective, he is doing nothing wrong by running into the street, turning on the stove or picking up a knife. You do all those things too. That is why an exception is made where you can hit the child to keep him safe. If the child learns from the example of hitting, that is an undesired side effect, but when he is old enough to understand the safety concern, he won’t think it means that it’s always okay to hit people, but he will know that it is generally okay to hit people in order to keep them safe from greater dangers.
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