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Spanking: A Parent and A Child's Worst Nightmare Essay

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As a child, I remember my father threatening to spank me. I left my Barbie dolls out and he stood on one. He told me that I would never forget again, so I screamed at the top of my lungs. A neighbor telephoned the police; all because of the fear of a spanking. Parents should avoid spanking their children because of the physiological and psychological pain that a child endures from this form of punishment. To commence, parents should avoid spanking their children because of the physiological consequences. Sufficient evidence exists in proving that spanking slows the cognitive development of children (Straus, 2011). Spanked children tend to do far worse on achievement tests than those whose parents used other forms of punishment (Straus, …show more content…

After time, the children become helpless because they cannot get the pain to stop because they do not know the indecency of their actions (Family Times, 2011). As children mature, they begin to believe that their own parents do not respect them; the spanking was humiliating, so why should other people respect them? Parents who spank their children argue that it demonstrates their disapproval. Discipline is derived from the Latin word disciplina which means instruction; because spanking lacks communication, it does not qualify as a form of discipline (Family Times, 2011). The tone in one’s voice, grounding and loss of privileges get the same message across to children without the consequences of spanking. Spanking hurts children psychologically because it puts them at a greater risk for psychological disorders. Anxiety and depression are prevalent in spanked children (Oppenheimer, 2011). In a study of one-hundred-seventeen children, one-hundred-ten demonstrated evidence of developing a mental disorder (Straus, 2011). Besides causing harmful mental side-effects, spanking is linked to lower empathy levels and domestic violence (Straus, 2011). If a child does not see love from his/her parents, then a child does not know how to show love or understanding. Spanking advocates say that they do it because they love their children. Hitting a child as a form of discipline actually hurts the

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