Through several generations of a family, it might be considered quite acceptable to discipline children by any means that the parent thinks to be appropriate. These parenting traditions that are no longer traditional might include spanking and some parents may not be aware that spanking is no longer considered an acceptable way to discipline a child.

Many parents today still hold true to the principle that they brought the child into the world and feel that they can do what they want to their child and that it is nobody's business what they do in the privacy of their own home. When a child's safety is in question and someone makes a point to report suspected abuse of a child, the traditional privacy of a home environment can become very non-private in a very short matter of time.

The parenting traditions that are no longer traditional but are still done could lead to the child being removed from the home. Many school administrators are cautioned to look for signs of abuse in children and to notify authorities if they think the child has been abused by hitting or any type of bodily contact that leaves a mark on a child. Some parents keep this in mind when they spank their children and make it a point to spank them in unseen areas.

Many child therapists and researchers have worked hard to find alternative ways to discipline children. They have developed the time-out principle and some parents are outraged by the docile concept. Perhaps these people should have taken more time in considering that they wanted to be parents because their outrage surely does not show that they have their child's best interest at heart.

Some of the parenting traditions that are no longer traditional should be. Some parents do not enjoy having children around and there seems to be a terrible trend on children becoming disposable objects that can be disposed of by several means. On any given day, people are found guilty of drowning their children or killing them in groups if need be. Extreme measures should be taken to put the values back in family values and parents need to take a close look at the way they view their kids.

There has been great efforts to improve family values by improving the quality of television programming and by emphasizing the need to limit the time a child spends alone watching television. Motivational commercials that focus around spending more time at the dinner table and knowing what happened on any given day at a school have made parents take a closer look at themselves and their family life.

As families spend more time together, perhaps it will help to develop traditions that are fresh, new and exciting, instead of continuing to rely on the parenting traditions that are no longer traditional in any home in the United States. All parents need to know is how much they love their children and how many ways there are to express the love they feel to the children that they gave birth to so many years ago.