Irish doctor blames rampant child suicide on lack of corporal punishment

1. DrMcHugh is correct that corporal punishment is a violent act, but so is life. Bringing up children with no physical stress does not prepare them properly for the world they will face when mommy and daddy aren't around. 2. Since the world is full of evil, we cannot take all of the evil people out of the world, therefore there will always be bullying. Even if one subscribes to the notion that all can be rehabilitated while incarcerated, there is still the first offense that gets that individual into the system, which does nothing for his/her 1st victim. 3. A better focus is to prepare our children to face a world that is cold, hard and by its very nature, unfair. As we say in the US, "Life ain't fair." The only "fair" in this world is the place you take your prize pig once a year. Trying to stop bullying instead of raising stronger children is like trying to stop a hurricane instead of building a sea wall/levee. 4. Finally, we need to get our kids off the computer and involved in activities that build their self-worth, e.g. sports, martial arts, debating, Church groups, etc. While we are at it, we need to stop giving trophies for just showing up, there needs to be rewards for winning (succeeding) since that is how the real world they will one day enter operates. We have let the social engineers tell us how to raise our kids for too long instead of looking to the past and seeing what worked; if you think you turned out OK, why not emulate what your parents did instead of listening to a bunch of psychobabble from an “expert” that may or may not have actually raised a strong, well-adjusted child.

What a gobshite, this Terrence Casey is. To think that beating the kids when they were younger would actually REDUCE the rate of suicide when they are older. He is just the kind of damaged white Irish male that made me leave Ireland so many years ago.

@DrMcHugh, thank-you for saying that. I was thinking the same thing. Thinking like that might bring back the days Magdelene Laundries, or worse.

As a family physician, I believe that rampant child suicide is due to bullying. Corporal punishment is a violent act. In my experience, corporal punishment, like bullying, can lead to more suicides, rather than to less suicides. Sincerely, Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, Chicago, Illinois