Would You Could You On A Rope?
Holy cow! There sure is a lot of controversy based on last night’s Supernanny episode! It seems that the public is divided on their views of using soap as a disciplinary tactic. I will admit to using soap, on a very rare occasion, as a form of discipline. My mother used it on me once, for calling my Kindergarten teacher and old lady. It only took one time to cure me. My own sons have gotten their tongues swabbed with soap, but never were made to swallow it. I learned that it was toxic and considered child abuse, so we discontinued that particular punishment.
Holly’s soap use prompted Jo to ask her if she was insane. Wow! I would have broken down in tears (my usual response to almost any form of criticism or name calling.) Holly was obviously angered by Jo’s implication that she put conditions on her love for the children. In fact, she was angry enough to walk out of the interview. If you have been keeping up with the chat boards over at www.abc.com, you would know that Holly is still less than thrilled about her whole Supernanny experience. While she agreed to finish the show, it didn’t look like her heart was really in it. That is just my opinion, of course. Just to be fair, I put myself in Holly’s shoes. What would my reaction have been had Jo questioned my character and sanity upon seeing me use soap? I honestly don’t know what I would have done.
This raises my question for today. WWYD? If you had been in Holly’s position, would you have responded differently? Do you, use soap to discipline, and why or why not? Do you agree with my feeling that Holly kind of put up a wall for the remainder of the taping? Sound off in the comments section!
Tags: cursing, discipline, mouth, punishment, soap, supernannyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Parenting
9 opinions for Would You Could You On A Rope?
Jennifer
Feb 28, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I don’t do anything to my child that could be considered a form of abuse if I did it to another adult. Certainly if I made an adult friend lick, eat, or otherwise ingest soap, charges could be brought against me. Same reason I don’t believe in hitting. If I hit an adult - that equals assault charges. I hit my son and it’s just fine. Where’s the sense in that?
We treat children poorly, and all they’re going to do is treat other humans poorly. We treat them with respect and they’ll treat others with respect at all. If I had a partner, and they used soap on me, because they hated what I said, I’d be outta that relationship.
I didn’t see the show, but I agree with the nanny on this one.
Tiffany
Feb 28, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Excellent reply Jennifer! I wouldn’t use soap either…because I don’t want it done to me…ya know…the whole concept of the golden rule. It is a disrespectful and nasty thing to do. Also…liquid soap has some very nasty cemicals in it…so she was in effect poisoning her child too…especially if it had antibacterial properties. If you are going to force your child to eat soap for heavens sake make sure it is non-toxic bar soap.
CLARE T.
Feb 28, 2008 at 5:08 pm
While I’ve never used soap to punish my kids. Even if consumed in small doses, it doesn’t belong in your system. Did you also notice on the show that Holly didn’t take the soap for herself when Jo went on about it being a toxin. She said that “it’s not alright for me” but obviously it’s “right” for her kids??? I think she definetly has a problem with corrective cristizim. Anyway, if I need to punish my kids for something they have said or done fouly with their mouths (spitting, ect.) I’ve used Tobasco Sauce. I’ve only had to use it twice with my son but he learned his lesson & it’s not toxic either. lol.
christy
Feb 28, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I kinda thought the kid looked like he had had soap many times before since he didn’t even flinch at the taste.
Just my observation on that. Jo was only trying to protect the children on this one.
Bobby
Feb 28, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Are you crazy? Only ignorant and clueless “parents” would use such a dangerous “discipline.”
Gayla McCord
Feb 29, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I NEVER in my life considered using soap! One thing I did do when I was at my whits end with one biter was to use hot sauce. A small drop on my finger and a swipe to the tongue when he’d bite his brother broke him pretty darn quick.
Today, at almost 15 he likes food that’s EXTREMELY spicy :)
hooker
Mar 1, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I previously worked with this woman, and I can tell you for a fact that she’s a smart person. She is not a nice person. I do not want to say what she did, but I have seen too many instances where she was mean and nasty to people. Most children aren’t born wanting to lie and hurt other people, it’s something that is taught. hmmmm wonder where her kids learned to lie?
jessica
Mar 1, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Both my husband and i had soap when we were kids. He had to bite on a bar of soap, and i had a teaspoon full of dish soap put on my tongue for one minute. This was done when i lied or when i said a bad word. This only had to be done twice, because, man, it worked. i gotta say, using soap or another nasty thing (hot sauce sounds like a great alternative) really makes a kid think before another lie comes out of their mouth.
However, that child DID seem unfazed by the soap. Any discipline, in my opinion, really should have to do with the kid. If you’re having to discipline for the same thing over and over again, you should maybe think of another form of discipline, but that one is clearly not working for the child. In my case, soap worked. Maybe something different would have worked for that child.
i personally don’t think the “naughty step” would work for every misdeed, especially the really bad ones. Holly thought the worst thing was lying. It doesn’t seem like the discipline for not turning off the tv should be the same for the kids’ biggest no-no.
Laura
Mar 9, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I have used soap also a few times. My daughter was giving me “back-sass”, as we call it, for an entire day. I asked her to go water the plants and she said some nasty comment with a sassy tone and an eye-roll. Granted, I only made her hold a wet bar of ivory soap in her mouth for about a min., and I didn’t actually make her SWALLOW it! That could actually kill a child!
The other two times I remember washing my kid’s mouthes out with soap was when my three year old son said “I want to crap naked and eat it”, and the other time was when I had found out my other daughter had been lying for days about a party she didn’t want to go to. She told me she hadn’t been invited and was going to her friends house that day.
My kids, now 13, 11, and 7 remember why they had recieved that punishment and still are sometimes fearful when they see I bought ivory!
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