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More Severe Child Discipline

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Child discipline has been a heated topic of debate in recent years. Many older people in past generations support more severe child discipline, citing that it teaches kids proper behavior better than more modern teaching styles. However, younger parents and experts are saying that severe child discipline can have long lasting negative effects. The issue of child abuse has been brought up many times in these arguments. There is a fine line between an acceptable spanking and child abuse. Corporal punishment may be thought of as, “the good old days,” by many adults, but kids today measure up, and might even surpass what kids used to be like. Corporal punishment may be favored at home or might be thought of as a good tool to teach children respect. …show more content…

If a parent is mad at a child for acting out, and their first reaction is to hit their child, they will pick up that violence is the first reaction to something that causes them to be angry. Another point that kidshealth.org makes is that hitting children as a punishment only teaches them to not get caught doing something they would get in trouble for. If parents or teachers took the time to explain to them why they couldn’t do something rather than hitting them, the lesson would sink in better to kids. People are most vulnerable when they are children, they are still growing and can be easily …show more content…

Parents may think that they grew up smart and mature because of corporal punishment and that kids today do not know respect because of the lack of this type of punishment. However, studies have shown that child behavior is actually on the rise; kids are behaving better than they ever have. Anything from teen pregnancy to bullying are all on the decline. There are less children going to juvy, teen pregnancy has been cut in half, and reported bullying is at an all time low (Rettew). Substance use is also on the decline. Fewer and fewer kids are getting involved in smoking and drinking while underage. The only drug that seems to be an exception is cannabis, which has remained stable in use for the past 20 or more years

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