The Case Against Spanking

The issue of allowing parents to spank their children is a controversial topic. Spanking a child is not against the law, but parents who use this method of discipline are sometimes accused of child abuse. On one side of the argument are parents who spank their children. On the other side are people who think children should not be spanked. Spanking is widely misinterpreted around the world because some believe spanking is abuse while others believe spanking is a form of discipline. The point of spanking a child is to correct the child’s behavior after they do something bad, not to physically harm the child. Children must learn from their mistakes and being spanked is a good way to learn. Parents should be allowed to spank children because it is an effective way to teach children right from wrong, learn authority and learn proper behavior.

Spanking in history was the typical punishment you would receive when you missed behave. Some fathers would take their belts off, make you grab a switch (a flexible tree branch that was used for punishment), a wooden spoon, or whatever was closest for the parent to grab. Spanking is defined as hitting a child on the bottom with an open hand. (Narvaez) All parents have had those moments when they are at their wits in with their children when they are being terrors, but instantly resorting to spanking is not the only resolution to get your children to listen. In fact, spanking your children may do more harm than good. Unfortunately, not all parents know the difference between abusing their children, and only spanking them one or two times. Abusing your children is never right, but spanking your child can be a form of abuse. Studies have shown that spanking may not

Researchers have studied that spanking is effective for anyone’s child who had experienced the pain of spanking on their bottoms or any part of their body because it has shown that it has increased the aggressiveness as well as mental issues towards his or her families and peers. For instance, in a book that was based on a true story called “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” where Henrietta had a cervical cancer in her, so years has passed by she had died from the cervical cancer and leaving her children behind. The children had nowhere else to go but to live with their aunt’s house named Ethel. Later Ethel had decided to abuse these children because she had hatred towards Henrietta who Galen was interesting to be with her instead her wife, Ethel. Ethel starves Henrietta’s children by walking them at dawn and forcing them to do chores. In the summer she sends them to Clover to pick the worms off the tobacco leaves and if they ever stop she would beat them. Out of the most of who got abused was Joe Lacks who changed his name to Zakariyya because she would abuse him for no reason by forcing him to stand in the dark basement for hours on end. Over the years now that Ethel has completely crossed the line of abuse he had gotten downright angrier and angrier by having him to have mental disorders, aggressiveness as well as anger because of what he had experienced in the past now that it has permanently affected him for a while by having problems in his later life and becoming an alcoholic, getting himself in trouble as well as murdering someone. Many people say that spanking is a good example of punishing your child, however; parent’s need to realize that if they have crossed the line from spanking it is now considered as abuse

The common misconception that spanking is a form of child abuse affects the proper discipline of today's youth. Some parents are actually afraid to discipline their own children using the same method of belief from their own upbringing. Who is correct in the notion of right and wrong discipline? Is there such a thing as a correct way to spank your child? In my opinion, there is. So, my goal is to show that if the

The more a child is spanked between the ages of 3 to 5 the more likely they will become aggressive (Online Psychology). Spanking can cause mental health problems and can have anti-social behavioral issues. Children that get spanked tend to defy their parents and have cognitive difficulties. When parents spank they think it is to help their child now what is right and wrong, but spanking has accidental detrimental outcomes. You don’t have to hurt a child to punish them, in 2014 about 80% of people spanked their kids. If the parent was spanked as a child the parent is more likely to support spanking

Spanking Isn’t Child Abuse, It’s Common Sense, by Ruban Navarrette deals with one of the biggest controversies in parenting ever since the twenty-first century: spanking your child. Ruban’s main point in this article is that fear is essential to respect and children won’t do what we tell them to do unless they fear

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)

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.

According to Parenting Article by Dr. Phil, “Long-term consequences of spanking can include increased aggressiveness, antisocial behavior, and delinquency.” According to Elizabeth Landau article from CNN, “A new study of more than 2,500 toddlers from low income families found that spanking may have detrimental effects on behavior and mental development.” According to the American Psychological Association, written by Brendan Smith, Many studies show that physical punishment in a child, consist of spanking, lashing and causing pain escalates anti-social behavior, hostility, and mental health problem s for

Spanking is a type of corporal punishment that is commonly used to discipline children. Without producing any physical injury, the parent will normally strike the child’s bottom with their open hand, belt, or a switch (which is normally a tiny off a tree) for inappropriate behavior.

When someone becomes a parent they constantly worry about how their child will turn out, if they’ll raise their child correctly, and some people even obsess with wanting to use the best disciplinary methods on their children. Everyone has their own input, their own view, and their own opinion about how to parent a child correctly. Spanking is a universally debated topic. Many experts go against corporal punishment, but many parents still think that spanking is an effective discipline strategy. Should they do it? Is it effective? What are the consequences and the effects? Throughout my paper I will go over the many reasons as to parents should not spank their children.

When children get spanked they are only respectful out of fear, not out of discipline. Constant spanking can lead to an abusive lifestyle, if spanking become repetitive in a child’s life it may lead to a violence, depression, or fear. The author states, “Spanking can lead to battering and child abuse. It is estimated that 85-90 percent of child abuse cases were attempts to discipline by the use of physical punishment that got out of

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.

Spanking has become an arguably debatable form of discipline. According to a study at the University of Texas, the more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents (“Spanking: Pros and Cons”). There is a connection between spanking during the childhood and mental health diagnoses later in life. There are other options of discipling your child than spanking them, especially because all children can take spanking differently. Parents should not spank their child because it showers that being “stronger” is right, demonstrates that older people have a right to hit younger people, and gives the examples that violence solves all problems.