It is a common enough scene, something you have probably experienced with your own children countless times. They are being loud, fighting, or just generally doing something they are not supposed to be doing. So you spank them. Maybe even yell. You’re frustrated, at your whit’s end. You just want them to stop, want them to learn and make better choices. Only, after spanking them, their behavior worsens. The effect you thought spanking them would have is not working. They act out more, get more aggressive. A debate has risen, as scenarios such as this become more talked about. Some say corporal punishment is damaging psychologically and negatively impacts childhood development. So the question has to be asked: “Is spanking bad?”
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This provides us further with the ‘why’ of parents in favor of spanking, despite negative evidence to its implementation in child punishment. Bell and Romano start the article with the idea of the root of the study conducted. “The use of corporal punishment has been linked to negative developmental outcomes for children.” So with this information, why does spanking continue? The results of the survey tell us why. “Those who report experiencing more corporal punishment during childhood but also more parental warmth/support hold more favorable attitudes toward spanking and those who report experiencing more corporal punishment during childhood and also more parental impulsiveness hold less favorable attitudes toward spanking.” (Bell and Romano, par. 1) Positive reinforcement of spanking is the main perpetuator between parents who were spanked, who now spank their children. It is hard to view a choice your parents made as a ‘bad and damaging parenting choice’ if everything else they did, except that one thing, was positive. So, sure, they spanked you, but they also provided love and support, so spanking can’t be that bad, right? When it comes to the ‘why?’ of the continuation of spanking in our culture, Isaac’s historical and societal acceptance could be
Most parents have debates in whether "to spank or not spank' when it comes to their children discipline. However, the first and the most common response of many parents are to spank, then probable trouble back in their mind and ask themselves, did my response was okay? Many parents do not even bother to stop and think through their actions. Commonly corporal punishment comes out of hands; it is not disciplined anymore it becomes abuse. All parents have their tradition of discipline and probably believe is the correct one, because they were taught that way, some are okay, but others are “NOT” correct. Although some of the parents blame their own child, themselves or whatever is happening around them. The parents need to discipline their child in a way that is not
Parents get frustrated with something and most likely take out the anger on the child. Parents should restrict the use of spanking, spanking as a form of disciple can lead to child abuse. Straus tries to inform people how spanking can cause a violent society because the world’s society brings up children violently through the use of corporal punishment. Straus stated, “I found that 44% said that, in half or more of the times they used corporal punishment, it was because they had “lost it” and 54% said that spanking was the wrong thing to have done in half or more of the instances.” Which means that because they just were stress or just mad, they would take it out on their kids to relieve the emotion.
Have you ever been spanked as a kid and felt angry towards your parents? Did you feel they just hated you? Spanking is a form of corporal punishment which is a punishment intended to cause pain in many different ways. Corporal punishment started in slavery and led to schools and homes. Although many states have banned corporal punishment it is still allowed in 19 out of 50 states. Many adults will agree children just need a ‘good ol’e spanking’ and others will argue that it is a negative way to parent and causes more problems. Spanking children is not a proper way of parenting because it gives a negative effect on children.
Living in the twenty-first century you rarely ever see someone spank their child or hear the word spank come out of a parent’s mouth. I see too many parents today that are too self-righteous to “spank” their children, because many people see spanking as form of abuse. Many parents in today’s world use more reasonable punishments for their misbehaving children. Some parents put their children in time-outs, deny them of their freedom, take toys away and ground them. I have seen parents use these methods because there are more reasonable ways of punishing their child for being disobedient. However, not everybody in today’s world uses these methods for punishing children; some parents use the act of spanking for punishment. Spanking was a popular punishment back in the 1900s, but is a very debatable topic in today’s society.
Jordan Riak, leader of Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education, once said, “Spanking does for a child's development what wife-beating does for a marriage.” Spanking has become a highly accepted form of child abuse in today’s society. Spanking can lead to psychological and mental struggles, behavioral and violence issues, lower cerebral capacities, and less remorse for wrongdoings as an adult. So why are we still choosing to hit our children? It is impossible for children to learn from their mistakes from spanking. The reasoning and understanding portion of their brain shuts down due to fear. However, when approached about their behavior verbally and when the issue is worked through reasonably with
Spanking is the act of striking child with open hand, belt, paddle or swish. It is a common form of punishment especially among children. Spanking is a controversial with some researchers maintaining that it is helpful and making spanking not abusive. Spanking assist parents to exercise authority over the child, once spanked a child understand whatever they have done was wrong and not to repeat it again. (Riffe 2011) Children are also able to understand the required norms of the society once they grow up. Other saying that research shows that spanking makes a child aggressive and develops a poor relationship between parents and their child. (Gershoff, 2002)
Editors remarked that in, “Spanking Your Children: Good or Bad”, the CED studied how spanking may be effective short term, but there may be consequences later in life. The more children are spanked, the less they are likely to be mannerly, and well- behaved in the future. They continued on by stating, “Spanking does not teach children why their behavior was wrong or what they should do instead; it teaches children that the only reason to behave appropriately is to avoid being punished.” (2017). This research has proven that there is not only a physical negative reaction, but a mental one too.
We live in a world where punishment is used in order to teach someone a lesson, or to show them that acting a certain way isn’t right. The mission of parents is to be able to teach their kids to surpass them, and to prepare them for the real world. One way of punishment that a lot of parents practice is spanking their children. According to the website, Brookings.edu, it states that in North America, 81% of parents say that spanking their children is sometimes appropriate. While some parents think that spanking is a good way in order to discipline their children, they shouldn’t because it teaches them that violence is the answer, it can cause emotional damage, and it doesn’t teach them how to communicate with other people.
Spanking is a particular parenting behavior that I feel strongly about. In my particular case, my parents used spanking as disciplinary action if deprivation of privilege and time-out did not serve their purpose with my brothers and I. In these cases my parents would strike, or spank, our buttocks with an open palm to serve as a form of punishment. Although my parents did utilize spanking, they exhibited an authoritative parenting style where they promoted autonomy within reasonable limits (Bigner, 2013). I think that if spanking is used moderately and under these circumstances it can be an extremely effective form of discipline. Unfortunately, parents often abuse spanking resulting in numerous negative effects on children. Also, corporal punishment, such as spanking, is most often associated with authoritarian parenting styles. Authoritarian parents typically use forceful means to gain their child’s cooperation and obedience.
Since the birth of the nation, Americans have debated about the topic of spanking children for discipline. Parent’s waver back and forth for a while it is okay and expected that they will discipline the children by using corporal punishment. Then over the years everything changes and now it’s no longer acceptable. It will be the center of many heated debates and will continue to be so as long as we have parents and as long as they raise children. In the long run parent’s will find out if spanking turned out to be a strength or a weakness but for the immediate future, it’s something America needs to go back to using for guidance purposes. Spanking when used as a form of discipline and not abuse is an effective tool. The use of spanking has
Parents have been finding new ways to discipline their children for decades, but one form of child rearing has endured through out the years as the go to punishment, spanking. Although spanking children has been around for a long time, it is a form of abuse used to punish bad behavior in children, the term spanking dissociates hitting kids and abusing them. Spanking children is extremely popular in the United States with almost all parents participating in this cruel behavior. Giles-sims, a Professor of Family Sociology at Texas Christian University quotes a study that says, “99% of parents had spanked 5-year-old children at least once” (Giles-sims, 170). The reason spanking is so common is because there is a lot of misinformation about how spanking effects kids. Parents do not know what spanking will do to the psychology of the child or the relationship they have with their children. For that reason, Parents should not discipline their children through spanking because spanking can have adverse effects on children’s relationship with parents and other children.
Dr. Perri Klass, a pediatrician, tells her story about seeing firsthand how parent’s frustrations about spanking their children and her reasoning on why she is against it. Klass talks about how as a pediatrician, she is encouraged to say that spanking is bad for not only the children but for the parents too. The aggressive behavior that it invokes is frightening and is strongly discouraged. According to a study published last year, “ Children who were spanked we're most likely to show disruptive, aggressive behaviors later on. Those behaviors, in turn, add it more likely that these children would be spanked more in the future”( Klass p.6). She fishes off the article by saying that the cycle of spanking is horrible for everyone present—no one is benefiting in this in a positive
Spanking as a way to punish children is a heated debate that does not appear to have an end in sight. The people on both sides of the issue have very strong opinions and do not seem to want to entertain the idea that the other side could be correct. This is generally how debates work, but one concern that is often not looked at is whether the claims from either side are valid and reliable. Anyone can make claims and find evidence for those claims, but the evidence may not be sound and therefore not useful. If we want our arguments to mean something we need to use evidence that is both valid and reliable. Lee et al. argue that spanking can lead to increased aggression in children ages one to five. They set out to determine if there is a correlation between maternal warmth and spanking in regards to childhood aggression (Lee).
Spanking has been a controversial topic among many parents. Some believe it is just a form of discipline and is okay, while others believe that this is abuse or violence and it will harm the child in the long run.
The second reason why spanking should not be done to children is the fact that it is a form of child abuse. At the moment, countries are divided as to legalize corporal punishment or create a law saying it is illegal. In the book written by Abela (2007) for the Council of Europe, she notes that “spanking of children less than two years old increases the risk of severe physical injury and the child is unlikely to understand the connection between behavior and punishment.” Most parents tend to go overboard when disciplining their children, especially when they are very angry and have not subdued their anger. This then makes the child their venting medium to get rid of that anger and sometimes, they do not apologize and even forget why they have done the deed. Other parents tend to make this a habit and even if the child did nothing wrong, they would still continue spanking the child. Eventually, the parents may slowly abuse the child through pain and totally make the child’s life a complete hell. As a result, child becomes frail and suffers psychological problems. Some countries, especially social services, use this as grounds to get the child away from the family and file cases of child abuse and physical injury that can lead to jail time if proven guilty. Spanking may also cause scarring and may be with the child