Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 145

Discipline is how we transmit our most basic personal and social values. Dr. Ross Snyder, child psychiatrist A I I Y0 WtfUW ANCIENT NOURISHMENT: These native beauties provide more minerals and less gas than the pinto. their spankings out on younger or smaller children. Dr.

Spock uses this argument: "When an executive in an office, or a foreman in a shop, is dissatisfied with the work of an employee, he doesn't rush in shouting and whack him on the seat of his pants. He explains in a respectful manner what he would like, and in most cases this is enough. Children are not that different in their wish to be responsible and to please. They react well to praise and high expectations." The ideal form of discipline, according to the experts, would seem to be a mix of good examples and positive reinforcement, explaining the A child who is taught right from wrong by parents who explain, encourage and praise right more often than they punish wrong will develop a conscience that doesn't rely on threat of punishment to behave, Snyder says. Selma Fraiberg, a child development expert and author of the classic "The Magic Years," has found that children who are physically punished have a harder time developing the internal sense of right and wrong that guides most adults' behavior.

Children who are spanked, she says, learn to not act badly because they don't want to get punished, not because they've learned it's wrong. It's hard to find any support for old- OH, BEANS! The Anasazi is 7,000 years old and still growing fashioned, pants-down, over-the-knee whippings. Even psychologist Logan Wright, one of the few authors who endorses any type of physical punishment, draws the line at one slap on the rear end. Anything more, Wright says, is humiliating for the child and serves consequences ot bad behavior and avoiding empty threats. Instead of spanking, parents need to develop a repertoire of disciplinary methods, says Barbara Wasy-lenki, a social worker at the Albuquerque Family and Child Guidance Center.

Skillful mothers and iiiii.U!lwuiiiiiiiii .1 muninn mm IL THE STRIKINGLY beauti- unsubstantiated stories about Anasazi ful Anasazi bean, with its beans, they were actually ancient mottled skin of deep red and seeds recovered from a pre-historic white, was among the first burial site. When the stories captured cultivated crops of the the public's interest, the beans started Southwest. Ethnobotanists put its showing up in natural foods family origins back at least 7,000 The myth has long since been dis-years, making it a contemporary of counted, and the Anasazi survives for corn. its flavor rounder and richer than But like the blue, black and red that of a pinto, and more mineral-rich corn the Anasazi favored, this native as well. bean fell into disfavor in You can substitute this century as "native" fjf MEXICO Anasazis CUP for CUP foods were denigrated in CCf fr pintos in any recipe, favor of foods more famil- They're easier to digest iar to the dominant cul- By Rebecca than pinto beans, contain-ture.

In the 1930s agribusi- Wood ing just 25 percent as much ness introduced the hybrid llll of the trouble-making car- pinto bean as a higher- bohydrates as their more- yield bean. Our rich-tast- lr popular hybrid relative. ing local bean was all but Photograph Most PcoPle can cnjv forgotten. gY' Anasazis in quiet comfort. In the 1970s, just over King This classy bean is avail- our northwestern border, able bulk from area nat- fathers will be able to avoid problem situations by recognizing their child's limits, diverting their child's attention before problems arise and finding successful ways to calm their child before anger, frustration or excitement turns into a tantrum.

Parents often resort to spanking because it seems the easiest thing to do when bad behavior strikes, says Wasylenki. Finding a problem-solving approach rather than a punitive one takes more thought and time, she says, but is more rewarding in the long run than repeated spankings. "Eventually," says Wasylenki, "you get a callous on your mind and on your bottom. It doesn't do much good and actually reinforces negative behavior and shuts down meaningful communication." Leslie Linthicum, a former SAGE staff writer, is a reporter with the Journals State Desk. more to relieve a parent's tension than to teach a child.

Penelope Leach, a best-selling child-rearing author, adds this warning about physical punishments: "They do not work and because they do not produce the desired effect, they have a nasty tendency to escalate." Once you've spanked your child for touching the TV and she does it again, you must spank again. When she touches it once more, you think you must give a longer or harder spanking. Soon, Leach says, you may feel forced into physical punishments beyond what you would rationally endorse. And, she adds, a firm shaking can cause whiplash or a concussion, a misplaced bottom-paddling can inflict spinal injuries and a swat can catch a child off balance causing him to fall. Leach says research shows children don't remember what they were spanked for, react to spankings with anger, not remorse, and tend to take ural food stores and some in Dove Creek, a bean farmer named Ernie supermarkets.

But it is a bit Waller found a forgotten stash of this pricey ranging from $.99 to $1.89 heirloom bean in a warehouse. He per pound, compared with $.49 to grew them and named them Anasazi $-79 a pound for pintos. to honor the ancient peoples who Consider buying a handful to plant, lived in the Southwest until 1300 The Anasazi bean is more resilient A.D. Old-timers, recognizing it as the than seed-house hybrid varieties. And savory frijol conejo, vaquita or pajaro it takes to our Southwestern climate carpintero of their youth, gladly paid like an old friend, more for it over the less flavorful pinto.

Rebecca Wood wrote about foragjng for According to intriguing but totally food in last months SAGE. ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL 21.