Spanking's Negative Effects On Children

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Let’s picture a scenario whereas a child gets in trouble for something minor; like a failed spelling test. The parent has had a rough day working and is extremely tired. The child shows the parent the failing grade and the parent gets angry. The parent tells the child to go get a switch. This is a normal reaction to the child, so the child starts his or her walk to pick the instrument of punishment. After the beating has occurred, the parent then justifies this behavior. He thinks of the old saying, spare the rod spoil the child, he tells himself “I was raised getting hit and I am fine”, ECT.. The child has no explanation as to why this occurred except his or her parent was unhappy about the test. What lesson has the child really …show more content…

Very few see a grey area concerning this matter. On one hand, many people think spanking is nothing more than a legal form of abuse. On the other hand, many people stating that it is a necessary tool to raise well behaved children. Although, many people feel that spanking is an appropriate act of discipline, spanking has many negative effects on developing children. First, it teaches the child to fear adults rather than respect them.
Second, spanking puts a child’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being in harm’s way. And third, spanking is a temporary solution to a problem that continues to ultimately causes more problems, teaching a child to problem solve with violence. As defined by the American Academy of Pediatrics’, spanking is “striking a child with an open hand on the buttocks or extremities with the intention of modifying behavior without causing physical injury”(Jones). First of all, there are many flaws with this definition. Anytime you strike a living being, whether open handed or not, an injury occurs, to at least some degree, whether emotional or physical. There are laws against hitting a spouse, a co-worker, and even your animals. Yet the law deems hitting

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