We'll call it...cultural differences?

I face a real dilemma here in Honduras that I never thought I would have to deal with. I teach seven year olds. They are rambunctious and funny and silly, and many times I cannot get them to listen to me. I have all sorts of discipline systems in the classroom, but sometimes they just don’t work. Today, for example, a little girl was crying because two of the boys had hidden her things and wouldn’t tell her where they were. I have lectured my class over and over again about respecting other people’s things, and these boys are troublemakers, so I sent them to the office. I figured they would get a lecture from the principal (who is both scarier than I am and more effective since he can talk to them in Spanish.)

They came back sobbing. When I asked them why, they each individually told me that the principal said he would call their homes, and their parents would beat them. This isn’t the first time my students have told me that their parents hit them. I know that hitting children is a fairly common practice here in Honduras, but it makes me so sad that my actions of reporting them to the office could cause them to get beaten at home. So I am faced with either not asking the office for support in disciplining the children, or causing them to get hit when they go home. I know that it is fairly common practice to strike children with belts here, and the thought of that just makes me absolutely sickened. I understand that this is a different culture, but I don’t think I will ever, ever feel remotely comfortable with the idea of striking a child. I think I will have to just stop sending children to the office now that I know the ramifications of what they’ll face when they get home. It makes me really sad and a little frustrated to be living somewhere where that kind of parenting is considered acceptable.