Spanking

Does Spanking Lead Child Abuse?

Were you spanked as a child? Do you think spanking effected you? Every parent has been in a situation where a good spanking seems like the only way to put an end to little Junior’s temper tantrum. Parents use a number to reasons, some you may have heard, to use spanking as a form of discipline. They may say “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Or “I was spanked and I turned out okey.” Even “Kids need spanking to show them who’s boss.”

The issue I wish to present is whether or not spanking leads to a rise in child abuse and later violence. Do children who are spanked or physically punished see spanking as a violent act? Do they learn to see violence as an acceptable way to solve a problem? When parents spank their children are they guiding them or controlling them?

Nancy Samalin, author of Love and Anger, believes that spanking is nothing more than a big person hitting a smaller person and it can do damage to your child’s conscious. “A child who obeys because of the fear of being spanked,” she explains “is most likely not to develop a sense of right or wrong without being policed by a more powerful authority figure.” (Samalin, p. 154). She believes that spanking the child you have not set an example that you want your child to follow in the future. New studies have shown that children who are abused by their parents physically, emotionally, or sexually grow up and become abusive parents themselves. Further studies have shown that children who are physically punished lack empathy and concern that helps them care for others.

A public opinion poll conducted by the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse in 1994 asked parents how they disciplined their children in the previous year. Denying privileges was used by 79 percent of the parents; confinement to a room was used by 59 percent; 49 percent spanked or hit their children; and 45 percent insulted or swore at their children. What was amazing about these statistics was that 51 percent did not spank their children. Now consider the rise in child abuse cases that has caused public-health officials scrambling for an explanation blaming spanking made sense. Trouble is, while spanking is down, child abuse is still up. Joan McCord, author of “Questioning the Value of Punishment,” believes that punishment in general is the reason for the increase in child abuse and violence.