Child Abuse Versus Discipline and Their Respective Consequences

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Raising a child is a challenging life task that is given over to individuals all over the world without an instruction manual. People must learn by experience how to nurture, care for, and provide for miniature versions of themselves for almost two decades in most cultures! Discipline plays a major role in raising a child because most parents truly want what is best for their children and want them to grow up to be responsible, respectable, and successful adults; however, in some unfortunate cases, parents misinterpret the term discipline and in turn end up abusing their children. The question becomes, is there truly a difference between discipline and abuse? And if so, what is it? With education, individuals can learn how to properly distinguish between discipline and abuse and realize that there is a clear black and white difference between the two. The origin of the word discipline stems from the Latin word disciplina, which means “instruction [or] knowledge” (“Definition of discipline”, n.d.). As stated in the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of the word discipline is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, [or] using punishment to correct disobedience” (“Definition of discipline”, n.d.). According to WebMD, a website that is visited and seen by millions of people in the United States every day, discipline is “the process of teaching your child what type of behavior is acceptable and what type is not acceptable. In other words, discipline teaches a child to follow rules” (“Child Discipline Methods”, n.d.). It even goes on to state that “it sounds so straightforward, yet every parent becomes frustrated at one time or another with issues surrounding children and discipline” (“Child Discipline Metho...

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...isorder. Child Psychiatry Quarterly, 17(4), 127-132. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/617055710?accountid=10901
Narang, D. S.A developmental model explaining dissociation's mediation of the intergenerational cycle of child abuse. (Order No. AAI3034428, Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, , 5385. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fiu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/619966631? accountid=10901. (619966631; 2002-95010-131).

What Is Child Abuse and Neglect? Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms. (2013). Child Welfare Information Gateway. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/
Young, L. (1964). WEDNESDAY'S CHILDREN. NCJRS . Retrieved November 16, 2013, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=52261

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