Parents Divided Over Practice of 'Hot Saucing' as a Form of Discipline

Aug. 24, 2004 — The practice of "hot saucing" a child's tongue as a method of discipline may seem cruel to some parents, but those who regularly use the punishment say it teaches their charges valuable and long-lasting lessons.

Lisa Whelchel, who played Blair on the popular 1980s TV series Facts of Life, is an advocate and practitioner of "hot saucing." Whelchel, the author of Creative Correction: Extraordinary Ideas for Everyday Discipline, says the practice worked for her children when other disciplinary actions did not. ...

Whelchel said hot saucing works better than traditional spanking when it comes to offenses related to the child's mouth.

"It's a logical consequence. If you cause somebody pain, either by the words you say by lying and not being a trustworthy person or by biting, this is a logical consequence. It's your mouth that's the offender," she said.

Oh, I don't know, Blair. I like a traditional spanking. I was never hot sauced as a child, but I was miracle whipped from time to time. It wasn't until my mother's health-nut girlfriend tried to make me eat a piece of tofu birthday cake that I fully grasped the culinary consequences of bad behavior.



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