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Emotional effects of spanking on children
Corporal punishment on children
Effectiveness of corporal punishment
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The Controversy Behind Child Spanking Spanking a child is a controversial issue. On one side of the debate are people who believe spanking is a necessary component of parenting. On the contrary are people who think spanking a child is destructive. Somewhere in the middle are people who believe spanking is legitimate only when used correctly. Part of the reason for the debate is that some parents and experts define spanking differently. To some, spanking means slapping a child on the rear-end, while others believe it is a form of corporal punishment that does not cause injury. By showing how each perspective of spanking supports their claim and defining spanking, one will be able to form an opinion. In order to conclude an argument, it is first necessary to define any vague or ambiguous terms. Spanking is an unclear term in need of explanation. To some spanking means to slap a child on the buttocks, while others believe it is a mild form of corporal punishment which does not cause harm to the child. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) defines spanking as ?one or two flat-handed swats on a child?s wrist or rear end? (Rosellini 52). The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary also agrees with the AAP when defining spanking as ?[to] strike with an open hand.? Spanking does not infer a sustained whipping from Dads belt, but a mild form of corporal punishment that does not cause injury. Spanking is alive and well today despite the antispanking prohibition. In a poll sponsored by Working Mother and the Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Florida, 7,225 adults and 2,599 kids were surveyed (Hickey 48). When asked ?When should parents spank their children,? 51 percent replied ?When they think it?s necessary,? 30 percent said ?Only in extreme circumstances,? and only ten percent answered ?Never?(Hickey 48). Twelve percent of young adults, ages 18 to 34, which responded to the poll, said spanking should not occur; in comparison with the seven percent of both the 35-49 and 50-64 age groups which responded ?Never? (Hickey 48). The poll asked ?Which of these is (or was) most often used in your family to control children?s behavior?? As the prevalent choice, 37 percent responded ?Taking away privileges,? 23 percent said ?spanking,? 18 percent replied ?reasoning with the child,? four percent said ?bribes? and three percent answered ?ass... ... middle of paper ... ...imate act of communication, not a savage form of child abuse. The question of whether to spank or not has been the most controversial child-rearing issue of the past three decades. Though no end in sight, after analyzing my research of the extremes of spanking, I conclude in the gray area. John Rosemond proved the most logical approach to spanking. He has studied both sides of the issues and points out the inconsistencies of each side. Rosemond supports his point of view with grounds of disagreement and agreement and fills gaps the gap of the gray area connecting the opposing sides. WORKS CITED Hickey, Mary C.. To Spank Or Not To Spank. Working-Mother. v. 14 Jan. ?91, p. 48-9. Nelson, Gerald E., Lewak Richard W.. Who?s the Boss?: Love, Authority, and Parenting. Boston: Shambhala Publications, INC. Ramsberg, Dawn. The Debate Over Spanking. ERIC Digest. Mar. ?97. Rosellini, Lynn. When To Spank. U.S. News and World Report. v. 124 no14 Apr. 13 ?98, p. 52-3+. Rosemond, John. To Spank or Not to Spank. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1994. Socolar, Rebecca. Survey Says Some Mothers Still Believe That Spanking Is Good Discipline, Jet. 30 Jan, ?95.
Swat! The entire store tries not to stare at the overwhelmed mother spanking her three-year-old whaling son. As if the screaming tantrum wasn't enough of a side show at the supermarket. This method, or technique perhaps, has been around for decades, even centuries. Generations have sat on grandpa’s lap and listened to the stories of picking their own switch or getting the belt after pulling off a devilish trick. So why then has it become a major controversy in the past few decades? The newest claim is that spanking and other forms of physical punishment can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury and mental health problems for children. Brendan L. Smith uses many case studies and psychologists findings in his article “The Case Against Spanking” to suggest that parents refrain from physically punishing their children due to lasting harmful effects.
...ery helpful information for people who would like alternatives to spanking. (Project No Spank, 2014) (The Center of Effective Disipline, 2014)
Darcia begins her writing by first defining spanking as “hitting a child on the bottom with an open hand.” She then illustrates situations in which many parents may warrant the need for spanking. She follows with multiple examples of the negative effects of corporal punishment on the developing children ranging from increased aggression in retaliation to lack of trust
Spanking is an important aspect of a child’s social development and should not be considered an evil form of abuse. In her argument, Debra Saunders says that there is an obvious difference between beating a child and spanking a child, and parents know the boundary. Spanking is the most effective form of discipline when a child knows doing something is wrong, but the child does it anyway. A child who is properly disciplined through spanking is being taught how to control her or his impulses and how to deal with all types of authorities in future environments. Parents can control their child’s future behavior by using spanking in early childhood, because if...
Social tolerance of spanking has been the norm for thousands of years. The most widely accepted source coming from the bible. He who spares the rod hates the son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline (New International Version, Proverbs 13:24). Religion and culture have been a very common excuse for the spanking of children world-wide. “Hitting children is intertwined with religious beliefs, cultural views, and social policy… (Kazden & Benjet). However, the world has changed and evolved into a much more civilized society. In this country alo...
Did you know that over half of the population spanks their children? The idea of using spanking as a punishment has raised controversy among parents. Spanking is the use of an open hand to strike someone and many parents want it to become illegal. While spanking has some down sides, it should remain legal because making it illegal would be difficult to enforce, and there are already laws against child abuse.
[1] In 2012, according to a nationally representative survey, 77 percent of men, and 65 percent of women 18 to 65 years old agreed that a child sometimes needs a “good hard spanking.” This proportion has declined modestly since 1986 among women, while approval among males, after declining into the early 1990s, remained steady since then. “
Many critics believe that spanking is just a form of abuse and does not teach a child right from wrong. According to Jeanne Lindsay, “Spankings generally lead to more and harder spankings to make the child respond” (89). Critics think that spanking leads to more violet children and, in the end, more violet adults. They also believe that if a parent truly loves their child, they would never hit them. Critics believe that time-outs are a more effective form of punishment. They think time-outs teach children right from wrong better than spankings. Some critics also believe that spanking should be illegal in the United Stated. However, this is not accurate. Spanking when done out of love is not abuse at all. According to Jeannette Moninger, “A parent who spanks as a form of discipline is quite different from one who strikes with the goal of injuring a child.”(The great Spanking debate)) A parent does not spank their child because they get pleasure out of it; they do it so they can teach their child wrong from right and to ensure that they will not do it again. J. Addleman states that in 1979 Sweden was the first country to out-law spanking. Seven other countries decided to follow Sweden and outlaw spanking as well. However, several studies have shown that since spanking has been out-lawed in Sweden the child abuse rate has actually increased. One can see from this article that child abuse has nothing to do with spanking. With that being said, spanking does not mean to physically injure a child; it simply means just a slap on the butt. In Drjamesdobson.org, children learn lessons through pain.
The history of spanking from generation to generation has changed tremendously over the decades. There was a point in time where spanking was considered an integral part of discipline and it was not considered to be abusive in nature. My dad used to tell me stories of when he was a child and was always spanked for misbehaving - then even I grew up in a home where spanking was the normal reprimand for disobedience. For now, we won’t focus so much on my life experience with spanking but rather to point out both the good and the bad - the “pros and cons”, would you, of spanking in the form of discipline. The point that I am attempting to show in this paper is that the use of spanking in...
The use of spanking is one of the most controversial parenting practices and also one of the oldest, spanning throughout many generations. Spanking is a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child’s unacceptable behaviour. Although spanking exists in nearly every country and family, its expression is heterogeneous. First of all the act of administering a spanking varies between families and cultures. As Gershoff (2002) pointed out, some parents plan when a spanking would be the most effective discipline whereas some parents spank impulsively (Holden, 2002). Parents also differ in their moods when delivering this controversial punishment, some parents are livid and others try and be loving and reason with the child. Another source of variation is the fact that spanking is often paired with other parenting behaviours such as, scolding, yelling, or perhaps raging and subsequently reasoning. A third source of variation concerns parental characteristics. Darling and Steinberg (1993) distinguished between the content of parental acts and the style in which it was administered (Holden, 2002). With all this variation researchers cannot definitively isolate the singular effects of spanking.
Many authorities and psychologists believe that spanking breaks a child's spirit and only leads to violence. They think that it causes the child to become depressed, angry or hostile and they have conducted many studies to prove these things. This type of harsh punishment occurs often, but it is called child abuse. There is a great difference between abusing a child and properly disciplining a child. "One is an act of love; the other is an act of hostility, and they are as different as night and day" (Dobson 35).
Every parent has a different idea or definition of what spanking is and what is acceptable. The problem is not that kids are getting spanked; it is the kids who are not getting spanked, or spanked enough. It is like the children are “little CEOs” of their home when the parents should be the “CEOs.” Parents should put their child in order and make sure that they are in a child’s place. It is happening everywhere, not only in one place. It may be a sensitive subject in some homes, but it is about disciplining a child. Others may call discipline as violence. There is a huge difference between discipline
A young boy slowly makes his way to his mom, her scream urging him forward. He is almost to her side when he sees the shadow of her belt, he slowly backs away, he does not go far, as she quickly grabs him by his shirt. She then start to beat his hands with the belt, and then turns him around and starts spanking him on the behind. Throughout the whole time, the young boy’s eyes reflect fear, pain, and anger. Such corporal punishment is also known as spanking, beating, whipping, hitting, and sometimes even abuse. Although not all parents’ enforce corporal punishment to this extent, the reality of corporal punishment is that it should be the parents’ last resort. Parents should be aware of the negative effects of corporal punishment. Parents should exercise caution before turning to spanking as a form of discipline because of the negative impact it can have on a child’s social, emotional, academic, and behavioral development.
About 60% of parents in the United States use spanking as a method to discipline their young children. In most cases parents believe that spanking is the only effective way to discipline their children. According to the “International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family”, spanking is often referred as; “one or two flat-handed swats on a child's wrist or buttocks, but would not include a beating with a whip or a belt, for others, spanking also includes slaps and pinches to the leg, arm, back, or even the head, as long as no marks are left”. While some parents favor spanking children, others are against spanking children because they feel that teaching them and giving them consequences is the way method for a child to behave. I believe that parents should not spank their children because it is not only an incorrect way to punish their children, but because spanking can bring psychological damage to the child.
Smith, B. L. (2012). The case against spanking. American Psychological Association, 43(4), 60. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/spanking.aspx