Steven Robyor wants to make the world safer for children.

So he’s found a more efficient way to inflict pain on them.

How thoughtful.

In a West Palm Beach warehouse, Robyor has developed a device called the B-Stik. A 15-inch high-density polyethylene paddle that Robyor says will not harm children.

“It stings, but it doesn’t hurt,” says Robyor, 43. “And when I say hurt, I mean injure.”

Robyor says when he saw what happened in Atlanta to 11-year-old Joella Reaves last Thanksgiving, “it tore me up.”

Joella was tied up in her family’s garage, starved and beaten to death with a paddle and an umbrella.

Robyor figures, if her parents had only been able to beat her rather than kill her, things would have been much better.

Robyor’s Web site says, “B-Stik will not … Leave welts or bruising like a belt, strap, or switch. B-Stick will … Prevent bone on bone collisions from the hand that can damage soft tissue or cause nerve damage.”

For my taste, that’s a little too much like a testimonial for a rubber hose.

If you’re hitting your child hard enough to leave welts and bruising, or are worried about bone against bone impact causing nerve or tissue damage, well, maybe you shouldn’t be “spanking” your kid at all.

And if you are whaling away on your kid, I’d rather that educators, doctors and police be able to see what’s going on and have the chance to intervene. Welts and bruises are often the only indicators of abuse.

Although I suppose that depends on your definition of abuse.

“If a bruise isn’t left, there’s no injury,” Robyor says. “A child’s not being abused until there’s an injury.”

I would have to dispute that as well. There are thousands of children every day who are beaten just short of a broken arm or a ruptured spleen. I would still call that abuse.

In Robyor’s view, it would be better if they were beaten with a B-Stik.

Now, I’m not saying spanking is necessarily abuse. Some people are able to spank without getting carried away. But too often spankings are done in a moment of anger or even rage. And the spanking is simply the first step to a beating.

Now abusers can do it without leaving marks.

“I’ve tried it on myself and I did get a bruise,” Robyor says. “But it took over 100 [paddle smacks].”

In Robyor’s defense, his Web site goes to great lengths to address the issue of abuse and offer tips on discipline.

He may be well-intended. But there are some troubling contradictions.

Although the site makes a strong case for spanking, he says, “I’m against spanking, but I’m for discipline.”

No argument from me there. Discipline is an integral part of parenting. But I’ve managed to do it without striking either of my children.

Robyor says he didn’t spank his son, Jason, either. And now that Jason is struggling as a 23-year-old, he wishes he had.

“I should have just whacked his butt,” he says. “Putting a child in timeout is like putting an adult in jail.”

Exactly, I answer. That’s how we do things in this society.

And around and around we went on the spanking issue. Neither of us likely to convince the other.

On his Web site, Robyor also speaks about using the B-Stik to discipline your pet.

“Keep in mind when disciplining an animal, they have no idea what they did wrong, nor do they understand what they’re being punished for,” it says. “So, physical discipline of an animal is not recommended, loud noises are more appropriate, and more effective.”

The same applies to kids.

Come to think of it, there is a loud noise that usually works quite well with Sofia and Alexander.

And I didn’t have to pay $29.95 for it.

It’s called Daddy’s voice.

Ralph De La Cruz can be reached at or 954-356-4727.