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Effect Of Corporal Punishment On Children
Effect Of Corporal Punishment On Children
Spanking and child abuse
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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. The main reason people want spanking to become illegal is because they believe that it leads to child abuse. They argue that people spank their kids out of anger instead of using it as a disciplinary method, and it is not right to be able to hit a child even if they are misbehaving. “Children are the only class that is unprotected” …show more content…
According to a Huffington Post article, “time-outs generally only work in positive contexts” (Wenner). Also, in his book “A Case Against Spanking,” Irwin A. Hyman claims “that if time-out becomes routine it will lose its effectiveness” (Hyman 134). Another fault with time-out is the fact that it does not work in public. When you are at the grocery store or a public event and your kid is acting out, how do you discipline them? You cannot stick them in time-out or take their toys away, but you can give them a swat on the butt to get them to …show more content…
One of the biggest flaws would be that it would be difficult to enforce such a law. There would have to be a way to monitor each household to know if spanking was taking place. However, that is not realistic. Nobody goes around checking houses for meth, or domestic violence unless there is suspicion. It is likely that they will not check for spanking either. Also, to what extent would the law be enforced? What would be the consequences of breaking the law? If you gave your child a light smack on the hand would they be taken away from you? Questions like these are major. If the whole point is to do what is best for the child, then taking them away from their parents for something harmless is contradictory. Research shows that when kids are taken away from their homes it has as many psychological effects as the abuse itself. The children who are on the edge of going to foster care end up better if they are allowed to stay with their families. The problem lies in finding an effective way to carry out the law. An alternative way to keep parents from turning spanking into abuse is to require new parents to take an informational class. It can be held at the hospital and right before the parents take the baby home for the first time they go to the class. There, an expert can teach them the difference between child abuse and spanking. This would raise awareness of the problem and still allow parents
Spanking is permitted in many U.S. States but it does very by state. I would inform the parents that in the state of South Carolina, it is legal to spank your child for punishment if for sole purpose of restraining or correcting, and the force has is reasonable in manner and moderate in degree. (Kidjacked Spanking Laws, 2014) I have always felt that spanking doesn't work. It can temporarily stop the unwanted behavior, but the most effective forms of discipline are those that teach children how to control their behavior. Spanking could teach your child to be afraid of you when they have done something wrong, but it does not teach the child the real consequences of their behavior.
There are detrimental risks and disadvantages to using spanking children as a form of punishment. Children will never actually learn the reasoning for why they are being spanked. This will not produce benefits for the child later in life; it will actually hurt them because they aren’t learning important lessons as a child. A giant risk a parent takes when choosing to spank their child is that it may lead to increased aggression by age 5. Also the more a parent spanks, the less effective it becomes. Spanking has no benefits and is harmful to children.
People say spanking can be harmful to a child’s health. They have placed laws in Washington State in regards to spanking and other corporal punishments. But why, why all the fuss, spanking couldn’t be that bad could it? There must be studies to prove that spanking can cause bad child behavior otherwise why would there be laws on this madder? What are the opinions of the experts, and their methods of disciplining children?
Spanking, a fictitious form of child abuse, is an appropriate action toward unruly children. It is a popular practice used to instill discipline and values in children, and is more effective than talking to or yelling at the child or placing the child in “time out” sessions. In the long run, spanking causes no damage to the child’s mental or physical health. Instead, it creates a basis for good behavior.
The way children are treat by their parents reflects from themselves and onto their peers. “… parents that are very sarcastic, a child will be very sarcastic with their peers…” Parents don’t realize the affects spanking causes too the children’s mental state. In the article written by Brendan L. Smith, he explains that physical punishment, including spanking, “...can lead to increase aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury, and mental health problem for children.” Although physical punishment, such as spanking, may work momentarily, but it just causes the children to become more aggressive. (Smith 3) Over 30 countries have completely banned physical punishments for children. Elizabeth Gershoff, PhD, at the University of Texas at Austin, another expert on the issue says “Physical punishment doesn’t work to get kids to comply, so parents think they have to keep escalating it. That is why it is so dangerous…” (Smith
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...
Spanking a child is not against the law in most places. However, parents who use it in their homes are being accused of child abuse. The Chicago Tribune published an article that urged readers to report child abuse when they become aware of it. In the article “Child abuse in plain View” the author describes spanking as a type of abuse that happens behind closed doors (“Child abuse in plain View”). Like most critics of corporal punishment, the author is trying to link spanking to abuse. The author`s concern about abuse is a valid one. Abuse should be reported immediately. However, any attempt to define spanking as abuse is wrong. Spanking a child is not abuse. It is an effective way of discipline that helps guide the child into becoming a respectful and responsible person.
Proponents of spanking bans have a tendency to label spanking as corporal punishment. They then categorize it along with many abusive activities. Psychologist Kerby Alvy explains corporal punishment as, “pinching, pulling ears and hair, shaking, slapping, smacking, spanking, swatting, hitting, kicking, punching, paddling, using switches, hair brushes, belts and ironing cords, and having children kneel on gravel or ...
Have you ever been spanked? Maybe smacked? We all have our own stories of how our parents disciplined us, we take them as funny stories and even joke about them. If you were born in the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, you already know what I’m talking about and I bet many stories already ran through your mind right now. But as we grew up and time passed by, there has been this dilemma about this method of parenting. [2] “Parents feel mixed-up and uncomfortable about disciplining their children”. Few parents in modern times do not trust this kind of act of physical punishment at home and they think that is detrimental for kids. Therefore, a good amount of parents are trying to make the government restrict the parents who spank from doing so.
First of all, spanking does not lead to violence. Our surrounding world and media do. "The average sixteen-year- old has watched 18,000 murders during his formative years, including a daily bombardment of stabbings, shootings, hangings, decapitations, and general dismemberment" (Meier 34). It seems unjust to blame parents who are trying to raise their children properly for today's violence. If a child touches a hot stove he does not become a more violent person because of it, he just learns not to do it again because he learned a valuable lesson from the pain (Meier 34).
"Spanking doesn 't work, and it just makes kids mistrustful and aggressive. What we 're teaching them is fear rather than responsibility and problem-solving." said Kimberly Sirl, a clinical psychologist at St. Louis Children 's Hospital (Blythe). This is important because parents need to understand spanking doesn 't work and it results that the child becomes aggressive and mistrustful. Parents are trying to teach their child a lesson but instead making them fearful. Children will be aggressive and think violence is the answer to everything. The point of spanking is to teach the child what they did was wrong but kids don 't get that message when they get physically abused. It teaches them the wrong lesson and they think that it 's okay to spank kids so when they get older they will probably do the same thing. Corporal punishment of a child by a caregiver is legal in every state, but it crosses the line to abuse when a child is injured. Doctors and teachers are required to report to authorities any marks, bruises, cuts or other injuries inflicted on a child (Blythe). Anyone who is a caregiver of a child is legally allowed to hit the child. It only becomes an issue or problem when the child is left with bruises, marks, and injuries. If a doctor or teacher were to see any type of bruise on the child they are required to report it. There is spanking a
Over the last few decades parenting has changed a great deal. What once was acceptable is no longer widely accepted. Years ago people were allowed to spank,
Even though most people are split on the issue, the fact still stands that spanking and child abuse tends to go hand-in-hand with violence in the future. When you hear of someone disciplining a child, you typically assume the child got a spanking. It’s actually really sad that we, as humans, assume that. Think about it though - if it actually came down to it that there were real laws set in place against spanking, what would come next? There are no true ways to put a halt to spanking as a form of punishment considering it would be too difficult to actually enforce such laws. In conclusion, spanking may or may not have a direct correlation to violent futures, but it can definitely be a huge factor to it.
Any parent who has threatened to spank a child to modify behavior has observed the immediate change in demeanor. Psychologists tell us, however, that corporal punishment has no more of a desired effect on a child in the long term than alternative disciplinary methods such as a timeout or revoking privileges. Sweden proved that corporal punishment is no more effective than alternative methods and law enforcement officers are no more burdened by the laws put in place to protect the physical integrity of children. If in fact opponents and proponents are both right, their methods both work equally as well as the other, which one is the right one? Can they both be right? Unless we are going to make it legal to go around hitting each other for being snarky, rude, disrespectful, not paying attention, or just out of irritation due to undesirable behavior, the right thing to do is protect the most innocent of our kind. The right thing to do is give our children the same rights we give our family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. The moral thing to do is lead by example. The answer is
When children misbehave the first thing is to talk to them, when an adult misbehaves there could be more consequences than that of a child. Many years ago, the world was a different place and rules were enforced harsher than they are today. A punishment given 20 years ago is completely different than one a child would receive today. The punishment is no longer a spanking but a timeout and a talking to. Discipline in schools has changed as well detention and suspension are becoming a thing of the past and in its place are new methods of discipline. Yet, harsher discipline should be a requirement in school today to make a better society later.