Spanking, is it wrong or a necessary evil?

When I was young, I was soundly whacked every time I did something very (not just mildly)wrong. I now believe that those spankings I received as a child have helped me to become the person I am today. "Spare the rod and spoil the child" is an old saying which is now being wildly disregarded. Parents nowadays refuse to spank their kids and try to teach them right from wrong by talking to them. But does it actually work? I was never hit using a cane, (and I will never use a cane on one of my children) but I will certainly spank them. I believe that discipline is absolutely necessary for children. Learning right from wrong is always easier when you have a painful memory of what happens when you choose the wrong path. Also, I believe that pampering your kids and not punishing them when they do a truly wrong deed is equal to spoiling them. This will result in the upbringing of incredibly spoilt and selfish individuals who will be detrimental to society. Don't get me wrong, I'm not endorsing child abuse, I'm just saying that there are times when advising won't get you anywhere. It's always good to advise first, thereafter warn and if the misbehaviour still continues then the whacking should commence!

The other issue I would like to discuss related to spanking is whether it is ok for religious leaders such as buddhist monks and pastors to hit children during Sundays school in order to discipline them. I may be wrong, but I don't think that it's appropriate for monks and pastors to discipline children by hitting them. Giving advice and scolding is more suitable. After all, a monk is not supposed to harm living creatures. Hitting a child would fall into this category, whether it is ultimately for the child's own good or not.

I guess, hitting/spanking/caning is a widely debated issue. In some countries, hitting your own child would bring the child protection services upon you and you could lose your child due to "child abuse".

At the end of the day, I guess it depends on individual parenting styles. There are lots of great people who have been brought up without a single whack! I guess it depends on the child as well. There are some really saintly kids. I guess I did not fall into that category but I am so glad that I was disciplined then! :)


Summary

1. Is it ok to spank your kids in order to discipline them? - I think it's ok as long as you don't seriously hurt the kid.
2. Is it ok to spank kids who are not your own? - Definitely not. It's not up to you to discipline other parents' offspring. If their kids are not well-behaved, don't let your kids associate with them. Never interfere with other parents' parenting styles.
3. Is it ok for religious leaders to spank kids? - I don't think so.
4. What about school teachers? - I guess it's ok, as long as the child is not seriously hurt or scarred. (Personally I was never spanked in school, it was not allowed, thank god!)

2 Songs I'm crazy about!

I have finally found links to 2 of my FAVOURITE songs! Let me know what you think of them.

1. Brokenhearted - Eighteen Visions
2. In the Rough - Anna Nalick

Who's your favourite American Idol?

Out of everyone who made it on American Idol, which one is your favourite? Which one do you hate the most? The winners of AI are:
1. Kelly Clarkson
2. Ruben Studdard
3. Fantasia Barrino
4. Carrie Underwood
5. Taylor Hicks
6. Jordin Sparks

The other contestants who made it big are:
Bo Bice, Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, Katherine McPhee, Elliot Yamin, Kimberly Locke (yep, she's from AI too!)

Some contestants who are still popular but haven't yet made it are:
Blake Lewis, Elliot Yamin, Melinda Doolittle, Lakisha Jones, Stephanie Edwards, Sanjaya Malakkar (popular for other reasons), Kellie Pickler

So, my question to you is:
Who is your favourite and most hated AI contestants?

Some thoughts on the American Idol Finale

The finals of American Idol was a grand affair for which a lot of celebrities attended. On the whole, it was just 'ok' for me.

Good Points

1. I loved the presentation of awards to various contestants who didn't make it. I couldn't believe that the "bush baby" guy and his chubby friend actually attended the function and came up for the award. What great sports!!! Did you notice that Simon gave them a standing ovation for their great sportsmanship. The huge lady in yellow was a bit scary and I felt so bad for Ryan Seacrest for that long long kiss.

2. The beatboxing duet by Blake and Doug E. Fresh was great! I really enjoyed it because it brought some life to a show full of slow, old, relatively not-so-popular songs.

3. Loved Kelly Clarkson's performance! She still rocks!

4. The "African Children's Choir" was very sweet. The performance was quite cool considering the age of the performers.

5. Carrie Underwood's version of "Stand by you" was ok. She looked beautiful as usual but I hated what she was wearing. I wish she sang "Before he cheats" though. :(

Bad Points
1. Most of the songs sung were slow oldies! How boring! Even the fast paced ones weren't that great.

2. I hated Bette Midler's version of "Wing beneath my wings". It's beautiful melody was ruined by Midler's abrupt ending of song lyrics.

3. Taylor Hicks has yet to perform a song I know (maybe it's just 'cos I'm not into his kind of music).


Hmmm... no other points that I really hated about it. Hope that next year they get some good and popular songs for the finals! The songs performed this year were either old, or brand new (unknown) releases. Hope that next year one or two songs that are on the charts will be performed!

Oh by the way, Jordin won... ;) I'm sure she'll come up with a great album. So will Blake!

How many of you out there support the LTTE?

After hearing the news of today's bomb attack (and getting over the initial shock) I started thinking about the 24 year old war that has been raging in our country.

Do all Tamils support the LTTE? I remember jokingly asking a tamil friend in my degree class whether she supported Prabhakaran or Karuna and she quite seriously replied that they all supported Prabhakaran and that Karuna was just trying to create a dent in the LTTE. Needless to say I was shocked. It was then that I started thinking about the Tamil people's perspective of this whole war.

Hearing about a bomb attack or air strike in Colombo, we all get upset and go on and on about it. But it's quite normal in the North. What about the people there? Do they curse the Sri Lankan Forces or just focus on finding shelter and trying to survive? Do they actively support the LTTE and their cause?

What about the Tamils in Colombo? Do all of them believe in the LTTE and their cause? Should Sri Lanka be divided? If it comes to that in the end, would all of them be happy to go to their "country" leaving Colombo? I think not!

I have no hatred towards anyone (ok, maybe after a massive bombing like the Central Bank one, I got REALLY angry with Prabhakaran and wanted to personally go and .... - let's not get into that). I have a few Tamil friends and I went to a school which had a good mix of girls from all kinds of races. They're just like you and me and really wonderful people. But what is their perspective of this? If they do believe in the LTTE, they must be finding it really difficult to be around us after a bombing has taken place and listening to us blasting the LTTE and terrorists.

Finally, the questions I guess I'm asking are:
1) The LTTE and Prabhakaran - Freedom fighters or terrorists?
2) Do you support them, and if so, why? Explain the reasons, whatever they may be.

Thanx! :)

Reproducing without the involvement of a male

Before all you guys start biting my head off, I'm not writing this to insult anyone from the male gender (after all, I'm in love with a wonderful man :*)...

It's just that more and more animals are now reproducing without the help of the male species. Birds and Bees can do it and the latest animal to be added to this list is the Shark. A female hammerhead shark has just given birth to a baby shark without the help of a male. No paternal DNA has been found in the baby shark. Click here to read the full article.

Could a female dominant society actually exist in the future? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?!!!

p.s. Apologies to anyone who might be offended by this post...

Fairytales

All this hype about Shrek 3 and the fairytale characters that appear in it got me thinking about the fairytales i used to love to read when I was small. What I used to love about these stories were the princesses. Some of them are given below:

Sleeping Beauty

This is my all time favourite fairytale. It's so romantic and has so many different scenes in it.

Eg.

• * The christening and the gifts bestowed upon the baby Aurora by the fairies
  * The time spent away from the castle
• * The pricking of the finger on the spindle
• * Enter the prince and the fight to get to Sleeping Beauty
• * The Kiss (ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!) and the awakening.

Snow White

Loved the 7 dwarfs.

1. Doc

2. Happy

3. Sleepy
4. Bashful
5. Dopey
6. Sneezy

7. Grumpy (My favourite!)

Cinderella

Not one of my favourites (too much housework involved!!!) ;)

The Little Mermaid

This one is tooooooooooooo sad for me. I don't like it much because the prince chooses another girl over Ariel. Plus it has a lot of pain in it if I recall correctly (doesn't her feet hurt after she turns into a human?)

Aladdin

Beauty & the Beast

As usual, my thoughts are greatly influenced by various articles of Shrek 3. Click here to find out which article made me write this post. ;)

Let me know which characters and stories are your favourites!