A Case Against Corporal Punishment

In spite of all of the research that has been conducted on the harmful effects physical force has on a child’s development, a lot of adults continue to use corporal punishment as a form of discipline. There are plenty of reasons why parents keep doing so: They wrongly believe that by inflicting pain, their children will become well-behaved saints. The parents may not fully understand the developmental process of children, which in turn makes them easily frustrated whenever their child does not act accordingly. Expecting too much of a young child is unrealistic and being dissatisfied at their maturity level is no excuse for physically hurting the child. Some parents believe that the only way children can be motivated to be obedient is by making

Any kind of benefit from using corporal punishment is short-lived and it is not worth threatening the relationship between a parent and a child. The negative outcome from hitting a child carries an emotional price that is too high (A Case Against). Parents who choose to use physical force teach their children what not to do when they should be teaching them the exact opposite. The article A Case against Corporal Punishment stated, “America is one of the most punitive of Western democracies in regard to children, misbehavior, and defiance. And this proclivity to use physical punishment has made our country of the most violent in the world.” There is no doubt that parenting is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. It is an everyday commitment and requires an immense amount of self-control. No parent is perfect and they all make mistakes, so it is important for them to learn from their missteps and make sure to do better. Children are entitled to parents who are capable of modeling kindness, patience, and love (A Case Against). Corporal punishment is neither kind nor loving, neither effective nor useful, and neither patient nor warm; therefore, parents should never establish this kind of discipline