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weektkjdersatlmlsav agc0sm f7 st saturday august 16 1997 vol 13 no 33 the tribune comment opinions send your letters to the editor to the address below eii r1a parents must decide best punishments its an issue parents struggle with on a regular basis to spank or not to spank some today have decided not to physically strike their children ever for any reason but others believe a handdelivered swat on the buttocks once in a while doesnt harm a child and firmly sets boundaries every child needs to have in their lives either way it would be helpful if the laws of the land would give parents some guidance on this controversial issue so the current chal lenge to the canadian charter of rights should be helpful a toronto advocacy group funded by 45000 of our tax dollars by the way is mounting the challenge which would make it illegal for parents to hit or spank their children theyre basing their challenge on the age discrimination aspect of the charter saying its just because children are young that theyre subjected to physical assaults their parents are exempt from assault charges if theyre found to have used reasonable force in correcting their child the big question is what is reasonable is reasonable a slap on the hand or buttocks of a two year old running into a busy street is reasonable using a wooden spoon or belt to discipline a five year old or 10 year old when does a spanking turn into a beating and what about the recent american study which showed that chil dren who were disciplined with physical force exhibited more anti social behavior later in childhood than children who were disciplined by timeouts or withdrawal of privileges ultimately its up to every parent to determine how best to disci pline their child but more open discussion and legal clarification on this issue of spanking can only help jsfiwwsftw do ontario hydro nuclbrreacto sft fby deft if it 2 at- 1 m crrh wanks to matt3ftenln6- russians have superstitions galore well i ain t superstitious but a black cat crossed my trail old blues lyric ive only been cuffed in the head a few times in my life and most times i was in a situation where i kind of expected ie doing my level best to cuff somebody else in the head but i do recall an occasion when a backhander took me by sur prise i was swabbing decks on an oil tanker somewhere between halifax and amuay bay venezuela i made the mistake of whistling while i swabbed next thing i knew i was sprawled face down on the deck between my bucket and my mop the bosun a redfaced yorkshireman built like a beer stein stood over me with his hands on his hips eejit he snarled do ye not know better than twhis- tleon a ship as a matter of fact i didnt but i learned right quick i discovered that among sailors its considered per ilously bad luck to pucker your lips and blow while youre at sea they believed quite seriously that whistling encouraged the winds to blow that wasnt the only superstition those men at sea basic black arthur black embraced they believed it was bad luck to change the name of your boat to name a boat before it was launched for two relatives to crew on the same vessel and to board a small boat from any direction but the starboard side one crewman told me that sailors never molest seag ulls believing them to be the souls of drowned mariners agent exploited teens naivete dear editor we want to draw your attention to an ugly inci dent that happened this afternoon in our home a real estate agent gained unauthorized entry into our residence by exploiting the igno rance and naivete of our teenage son this real estate agent misrepresented his call ing at our residence he lied about someone in our household request ing his service to give the house a lookaround as a preliminary to putting our residence on the mar- letters ketwe have written a let ter complaining of his unprofessional conduct to his home office and we will launch a formal complaint with the toronto real estate board we wish that you will give warning to families in our area most families have two wage earners who are away from home during the day and their resi dences are left in the care of their grown up age 13 and beyond children but not all children have learned to be street- smart these children may have the tendency to yield to smooth talking strangers who come knocking at the door unless instructions have been received from their parents the children should be taught to just tell the strangers to go away and not open the doors to admit them dan ungshang markham theyre a superstitious lot your sailors but then why not theyve got a risky job flitting like water spiders over the tossing bosom of a capricious and frequently violent ocean they need all the good luck they can get strange how most of us sailor and landlubber alike still observe many old superstitions how many of us would deliberately walk under a ladder open an umbrella in the house not me not without tossing a little salt over my shoulder look at weddings the bride must wear white on the wedding day the groom must not see the bride before she comes down the aisle and when the deed is done we throw handfuls of confet ti or rice at them enduring habits supersti tions im not gullible enough to think that han dling toads will give me warts but i cross my fingers before i go in to ask the boss for a raise mind you when it comes to superstitions the rus sians make you me and the entire canadian merchant marine look like a pack of scientific rationalists rus sians are superstitious with a vengeance give birth to a baby in moscow and your neighbors will tell you not to show it to strangers for 40 days bad luck they also believe its bad luck to cut the kids hair or fingernails for a whole year after birth in russia it is also bad luck to h be born or married in may shake hands over a threshold give knives or handker chiefs as gifts b give anybody a half dozen roses five roses okay so is seven odd numbers are life- affirming even numbers mean death russians arent all nega tive they have good luck omens too they believe for example that if you forget something in the house and have to return for it you can cancel any accruing bad luck by looking into a mirror and smiling before setting out on a trip superstitious russians sit down for a minute of silence with friends or family and my favorite on russ ian buses youll often see commuters examining their tickets closely thats because its considered the greatest luck if your ticket number happens to have the same three numbers at the beginning and at the end the thing to do if you get one of those tickets is eat it thats right eat the ticket on the spot man itll be a long time before im desperate enough to eat my bus ticket for luck touch wood stouffville tribune weekender a metroland community newspaper jw patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief julie caspersen editor debra weller director of advertising phyllis ritchie retail advertising manager stacey allen 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