Spanking as a Viable Form of Discipline

1970 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Disadvantages of corporal punishment

It is early Tuesday morning, and I am involved in my usual early-morning routine: waking up the kids, getting them to wash up and dressed, making breakfast and ensuring they eat it rather than decorate the kitchen with it, and getting them out the door and onto a school bus, while managing - in-between all these activities - to prepare myself for a day at work. This ultimate exercise in multitasking, so familiar to practically all mothers, must be conducted in a limited span of time, where an unexpected delay at any juncture may cause the entire system to fall apart into little pieces. In this situation, when a child is acting out in an unreasonable manner - determined, of course, by a reasonable parent - a quick and decisive punishment might be needed.

Despite various claims by psychologists and sociologists concerning the emotional trauma that physical punishment can cause children in their adulthood, or even teenage years, in my personal experience - shared and agreed upon with my peers - a quick smack on the bottom not only produces the best results in terms of achieving obedience, but also does not carry noticeable emotional scarring that may negatively influence the child's life in the future. This quick spanking does not mean that I love my kids any less or that I would not sacrifice everything I have, including myself, to ensure their well being and happiness. Which brings me to the main point of my argument: spanking can be a viable and effective form of discipline when applied as a measure of

last resort, while being balanced out with love and care under all other regular circumstances.

Even among the opponents of physical punishment, the understanding exists that it is impossible to go through life withou...

... middle of paper ...

...panking does not turn from an occasional, extreme form of discipline of last resort into a methodical, deliberate system of physical and emotional abuse.

WORKS CITED

Chisholm, Patricia. "Punishment gets a scolding: But anti-spank crusaders collide with critics." Maclean's 112 (1999): D20.

Dodson, Fitzhugh. How To Parent. Seattle, WA: Signet, 1978.

Holt, John. "Disciplining children." Patterns for College Writing. Eds. Kirszner, Laurie & Stephen Mandell. 6th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975: 304-309.

Miller, Alice. "Against spanking." Tikkun 15 (March/April 2000): 17-19.

Peck, Scott, M. The Road Less Traveled. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978.

Pomeranz, Virginia E. and Dodi Schultz. "The First Five Years." Student's Book of College English. Eds. Skwire, David and Frances Chitwood. 4th ed. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1986: 194-196.

Show More
Related

  • Brendan L. Smith's The Case Against Spanking

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    Swat! The entire store tries not to stare at the overwhelmed mother spanking her three-year-old whaling son. As if the screaming tantrum wasn't enough of a side show at the supermarket. This method, or technique perhaps, has been around for decades, even centuries. Generations have sat on grandpa’s lap and listened to the stories of picking their own switch or getting the belt after pulling off a devilish trick. So why then has it become a major controversy in the past few decades? The newest claim is that spanking and other forms of physical punishment can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury and mental health problems for children. Brendan L. Smith uses many case studies and psychologists findings in his article “The Case Against Spanking” to suggest that parents refrain from physically punishing their children due to lasting harmful effects.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Most Parents Who Spank Their Kids Say It Doesn T Work

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Luscombe shifts from the use of pathos to logos, by discussing the negative effects of spanking. “Kids who are spanked frequently have lower IQs, are more aggressive, and are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol.” Describing the characteristics of children who are spanked helps reason with the parents reading. Parents want their children to succeed in life, and most will do anything they can to make that happen. So if statistics show that spanking kids as a form a discipline can cause lower IQ’s, this is going to further convince them not to spank, making her argument successful so far. Luscombe then discusses how infants who are spanked “had higher spikes in the stress hormone cortisol when faced with a new experience.” Incorporating studies about how, not only toddlers and older children are spanked, but also babies adds more concern from the audience, further reasoning with them through these

    Read More

  • Summary Of Spanking Children Is Not Abusing

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances. R.S., c. C-34, s. 43. “ (Barnett, 2008

    Read More

  • Spanking Most Detrimental Punishment for 3-year-old Children

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    Spanking doesn’t allow children to learn the reasons why to act appropriately. When parents use physical punishment, such as spanking, to discipline their children, they do so in order to improve their child’s behavior. According to a report composed by a lead researcher in the field of pediatrics, spanking does not teach children the reason for why they are being punished or why their behavior was wrong. Spanking teaches children to act in a desired way only because of fear of being punished. Being a victim of spanking, I only feared the idea of being spanked, and that is why I changed my behavior for the time being. I did not actually understand the reasoning for why I was being punished. Spanked children do not understand the positive and important reasons for acting properly.

    Read More

  • Spanking a Child and Child Abuse

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    Spanking a child is not against the law in most places. However, parents who use it in their homes are being accused of child abuse. The Chicago Tribune published an article that urged readers to report child abuse when they become aware of it. In the article “Child abuse in plain View” the author describes spanking as a type of abuse that happens behind closed doors (“Child abuse in plain View”). Like most critics of corporal punishment, the author is trying to link spanking to abuse. The author`s concern about abuse is a valid one. Abuse should be reported immediately. However, any attempt to define spanking as abuse is wrong. Spanking a child is not abuse. It is an effective way of discipline that helps guide the child into becoming a respectful and responsible person.

    Read More

  • The Consequences of Spanking

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    Spanking is commonly associated with parents attempting to correct behavior in a child; ultimately often out of frustration and/or anger with the child’s behavior. In the heat of the moment, most parents do not associate the long term psychosocial or behavioral effects the act of spanking can have on a child. The dangers of these effects derived from how children think and behave show us that spanking is not an effective form of discipline.

    Read More

  • Spanking? Never Heard of It

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stevens, Rebecca. "Spanking Law." Web log post. Kidjacked.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2014. .

    Read More

  • Corporal Punishment in America

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    The general acceptance, and sometimes support, of corporal punishment as a method of discipline is an aspect of the American culture (Barnett, Miller-Perrin, Perrin 61).

    Read More

  • Essay On The Effects Of Spanking On Children

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to Park (2010) spanking has serious long term effects on a child.I agree with this argument drawn from conclusions in her article “The Long-Term Effects

    Read More

  • Effects of spanking on children

    409 Words  | 1 Pages

    The use of spanking is one of the most controversial parenting practices and also one of the oldest, spanning throughout many generations. Spanking is a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child’s unacceptable behaviour. Although spanking exists in nearly every country and family, its expression is heterogeneous. First of all the act of administering a spanking varies between families and cultures. As Gershoff (2002) pointed out, some parents plan when a spanking would be the most effective discipline whereas some parents spank impulsively (Holden, 2002). Parents also differ in their moods when delivering this controversial punishment, some parents are livid and others try and be loving and reason with the child. Another source of variation is the fact that spanking is often paired with other parenting behaviours such as, scolding, yelling, or perhaps raging and subsequently reasoning. A third source of variation concerns parental characteristics. Darling and Steinberg (1993) distinguished between the content of parental acts and the style in which it was administered (Holden, 2002). With all this variation researchers cannot definitively isolate the singular effects of spanking.

    Read More

  • Spanking is NOT Child Abuse

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    "There is a great difference between spanking a child and abusing a child. One is an act of love; the other is an act of hostility" -- James Dobson, MD

    Read More

  • Corporal Punishment and Abuse

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Summary of Research on the Effects of Corporal Punishment." End Corporal Punishment. EndCorporalPunishment.org, Apr. 2013. Web. 12 May 2014. .

    Read More

  • Is Corporal Punishment Effective?

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some people believe that teachers’ using physical punishment is the most effective way to educate students. It is largely because they believe it brings a very quick r...

    Read More

  • Effects Of Corporal Punishment

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Corporal punishment is the physical disciplinary method used by parents, teachers, and school administrators in an effort to correct a child’s undesirable behaviors. The use of physical force is one that is often times controversial and usually evokes very strong reactions. These feelings surface, and opposing views clash, when scandals surrounding corporal punishment hit the media and heated arguments in the comments section of articles emerge. While corporal punishment occasionally makes its way into the limelight, it is a decision all parents are faced with eventually and often times daily. For example, when a toddler is sprawled out on the grocery store floor kicking, hitting, and flinging

    Read More

  • Single Parenting

    1622 Words  | 4 Pages

    DeFrancis, B. (1994). The Art of Discipline. Never hit a child. Retrieved June 9, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.neverhitachild.org/artodis1/

    Read More

More about Spanking as a Viable Form of Discipline

Open Document