Is 'hot saucing' discipline or abuse?

[Whisper]

This is a punishment?

One of my earliest memories is being young enough to be still sitting in a high chair on a Saturday with my Dad home. He worked two jobs and we usually only got to see him at dinner time. He liked hot, spicy food and usually had a jar of pickled jalapenos or hot giardiniera on the table. So, he gave me a whole jalapeno. I thought anything my Dad gave me was great. I was crunching away with tears running down my face and a big grin while my Mom was yelling at my Dad for giving it to me.
Cold showers were the norm as my Mom often hosed us down after playing outside before we were let in the basement to scrub off the second layer of dirt in the laundry sinks with Lava soap.

And thus we see the incredible power of context when it comes to reward vs. punishment.

As other posters have mentioned, assuming the hot sauce isn't spicy enough to cause severe pain and/or tissue damage, I don't know that in and of itself I'd consider it abusive. However, the context of its administration is VERY important--it's abuse if, as has been said, the mother administers the punishment vindictively and/or sporadically; conversely, if there are well-known and solidly-established rules, boundaries, and consequences, then it could potentially help in disciplining the child.

Given that the mother said she tried spanking first and it didn't work, though, I'd imagine the issue speaks more to ineffective parenting than unrelentingly-unruly children in need of steeper punishment.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Discipline. I never had much in the way of physical discipline though. I was belted twice, once when I was 5 or 6 for getting in a "stranger's" car (it was my friend's parent's car) and another time for punching my brother in the face when I was 11 or 12. The second time my dad made it sound like it was going to hurt like hell. I remember waiting in his bathroom, and when he came out with his belt I had my hands in my pockets he said "Take those out or you won't have any pockets!" I certainly didn't want it bare, so I did. He tapped "One!", he tapped "Two!" and he tapped "Three!" and wincing for the worst, he said "Ok, you're free to go". I was stunned. That was all? I felt cheated. I stood around for a few minutes confused if it was all a trick, but then he saw me again and said "Go on, you had your punishment, play with your brothers". I went to my room, cried, and beat myself a few times for the rest of the day.

Moral of the story: teach your children self-discipline.

Wow. That's the guy's daughter... Ugh.

Asian familial abuse is a beautiful tradition.

 

[xanis]

When you consider the asinine shit that's considered "abuse" these days, then yeah, hot saucing fits the bill.

When I was a kid, I would have LOVED to get hot sauce instead of backhands to the face.