According to the World Health Organization, “Around 60% of children aged 2-14 years regularly suffer physical punishment from their parents or other caregivers”. A percentage this high is a daunting problem as children should be raised in positive environments that help them blossom into caring and compassionate adults. Corporal punishment, defined as a physical correction of behaviors, has long been integrated into our society. While there is a difference between corporal punishment and abuse, the former can cause trauma and damage to children's psyche, as does abuse. Parents share a common goal: to provide some form of discipline in order to correct unwanted behaviors. Parents’ techniques and approaches vary from family to family, but the …show more content…
These ramifications have been researched and outlined in Nadine Block’s article, “Disciplinary Spanking Should Be Banned”. One of Block’s justifications for banning spanking is that there is a high potential for destructive and aggressive behaviors toward themselves and others, even outside of childhood. She examines research done on the effects that corporal punishment has on people as they move from childhood to adulthood. Upon this examination, Block finds that “Even infrequent and moderate spanking in childhood can have deleterious effects in adult life, including a greater likelihood of depression and other psychological problems.” Depression and psychological problems can lead to numerous issues, including failing in school, lack of social life, and a decrease in workplace performance. All these issues have the potential to cause a decrease in the quality of life and, therefore, should be minimized as much as possible. Some parents might argue that spanking does not cause harm. Betty Miller asserts that a child can benefit from spanking in most situations if it is corrective punishment and not abuse. This is a valid point, but extensive research shows …show more content…
Pies, while discussing the impact spanking has on children, uses a study from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to show that “... although corporal punishment may have a high rate of immediate behavior modification, it is ineffective over time and is associated with increased aggression”. While spanking may bring about immediate results in terms of behavior modifications, the long-term ineffectiveness and association with negative behaviors point out the need for better techniques. Spanking stops the behavior temporarily, rather than providing opportunities for the child to grow and learn from their mistakes. If this continues, there is a chance that the child loses all trust in their parents, which can cause problems such as the child not wanting to obey commands in the future. In addition, the correlation between corporal punishment and increased aggression suggests a brutal cycle of negative behaviors. Rather than effectively mitigating destructive behaviors, children are being taught that violence is an acceptable means of conflict
Introduction It is obvious the position the author of the article "Spanking children isn’t abusing them" has on this point. The author makes two points about the decision Justin Trudeau made in order to keep a campaign promise. The first point is the approach or steps Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is giving in order to implement one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) recommendations and in the second point the author brings our attention to section 43 and makes a distinction between spanking (use of reasonable force) and Physical punishment where harsh punishment is inflicted to a child. In this paper I will attempt to make a distinction between reasonable force and beating a child and to explore Section 43 of the
Spanking, a fictitious form of child abuse, is an appropriate action toward unruly children. It is a popular practice used to instill discipline and values in children, and is more effective than talking to or yelling at the child or placing the child in “time out” sessions. In the long run, spanking causes no damage to the child’s mental or physical health. Instead, it creates a basis for good behavior.
Growing up as children, from a very early stage in life we are taught by our parents and guardians to follow the simple rules set in the family setting as well as being respectful to everyone. As a child if one misbehaved or failed to live by the code of conduct, they ought to be disciplined in order to get back on track. Discipline simply meant to impart knowledge and skills. Many times however, discipline is mistaken for punishment and control and this poses a great challenge to parents on effective methods of instilling discipline in their children from one stage of life to the next for instance; how parents ought to discipline older children varies from the way they are required to handle toddlers.
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.
Three reasons why people do not believe in spanking are spanking can cause harmful side effects, spanking is no more effective than other punishments, and spanking promotes violence in children. Some harmful side effects that could possibly be caused by spanking are children suffering from depression, being inferior in their school performance, or having problems later on in life. It is impossible to see side effects because they are not usually revealed immediately. People also believe that spanking cannot be proven to be more effective than any other punishment. They think parents can use other positive and nonviolent punishments to show children their actions were wrong without subjecting the children to the detrimental effects of spanking. Spanking can also be perceived as contradictory to teaching nonviolent behaviors to children. (1) It can reinforce negative memories and violence can be passed down through generations. A study that was published in a journal about child development was done with small children. It concluded that by the age of one, children that were spanked al...
Many authorities and psychologists believe that spanking breaks a child's spirit and only leads to violence. They think that it causes the child to become depressed, angry or hostile and they have conducted many studies to prove these things. This type of harsh punishment occurs often, but it is called child abuse. There is a great difference between abusing a child and properly disciplining a child. "One is an act of love; the other is an act of hostility, and they are as different as night and day" (Dobson 35).
Finally, we need to know more about the personal resources of parents that can lessen the incidence of spanking. It is found that spanking sharply decreases as the parent ages. Despite ideological motivations, parents can and should be trained to understand alternative strategies of discipline (Day 93).
From helping them read and write, to teaching them right from wrong, parenting is a huge job and adds a lot of pressure on parents because they want their child to succeed. However, different parenting styles brings on different characteristics and reactions out of their children, which is why when it comes to parenting, one is entitled to their own opinion on how to discipline their children accordingly. When it comes to disciplining, it can be done by taking away television time, phone time, or even taking away a favorite snack, but what about spanking as a form of discipline? Spanking by far, is considered the biggest controversy when discipline is being discussed, and there are many opinions on if spanking helps or hurts the child. With
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.
The history of spanking from generation to generation has changed tremendously over the decades. There was a point in time where spanking was considered an integral part of discipline and it was not considered to be abusive in nature. My dad used to tell me stories of when he was a child and was always spanked for misbehaving - then even I grew up in a home where spanking was the normal reprimand for disobedience. For now, we won’t focus so much on my life experience with spanking but rather to point out both the good and the bad - the “pros and cons”, would you, of spanking in the form of discipline. The point that I am attempting to show in this paper is that the use of spanking in...
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.
A lot of children have been very much mentally impacted by getting spanked. “She goes on to state that between 2% and 7% of mental disorders found in the study were linked to physical punishment. ”(Afifi, an assistant professor) According to this quote from” Spanking, Children Can Cause Mental Illness'' by Rupert Shepherd between 2-7% of children get negatively impacted by their parents spanking them, out of approximately 1.9 million children in the world at least 38 million children are being mentally affected by corporal punishment. Shepherd later states Afifi concluded that spanking is related to most kids' mental issues,” Harsh physical punishment, independent of child maltreatment, is related to mental disorders.
Spanking is often considered a controversial disciplinary measure, though it can be seen as a necessary one. Growing up, whenever I was mischievous my parents would talk to me and spank me to make me realize what I did was wrong and not to do it again. The spanking comes from the use of physical force to help children remember the feeling of pain before making a bad decision. In moderation, spanking can be an effective discipline measure because of how effectively it can establish parental authority, foster loving intentions, and teach children how to act. To start with, spanking children can help provide more authority for parents in the way of disciplining their kids.
Many parents find themselves using frequent sayings such as, “do not touch that”, do not do that”, and “stop being mean to your sister!” Along with those sayings, parents still refer to a specific passage from the Bible, Proverbs 22:15, which states: Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. The chapters 22 and 23 of Proverbs speak of how the rod should be used and when. It also tells parents spanking the child will not kill him. Many researchers and parents would argue these facts and state is does cause harm but if they could understand the limitations of the teachings, incorporate communication, and set boundaries the use of a rod would instill wisdom, instruction, and understanding in a child.
Even though most people are split on the issue, the fact still stands that spanking and child abuse tends to go hand-in-hand with violence in the future. When you hear of someone disciplining a child, you typically assume the child got a spanking. It’s actually really sad that we, as humans, assume that. Think about it though - if it actually came down to it that there were real laws set in place against spanking, what would come next? There are no true ways to put a halt to spanking as a form of punishment considering it would be too difficult to actually enforce such laws. In conclusion, spanking may or may not have a direct correlation to violent futures, but it can definitely be a huge factor to it.