Spanking Young Children

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.

Spanking is sometimes seen as a trend that parents want to follow from generation to generation. For instance, current parents were spanked when they were young and they often tend to feel that if they turned out to be great people, their child would be well-disciplined if they are spanked. As a matter of fact, parents don’t actually realize the type of damage that their parents left them after constant brutal punishment. According to the article, “Myths and Facts: Spanking”, “There will be lasting effects to this type of discipline, how you react to others, and definitely in how you may parent your own children”. This shows that your parents may have affected you in many ways that you as a parent may have never thought of. For instance, if you were spanked when you were a child you would probably remember that when you were a ...

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... are more likely to do better in school than does children that were never spank. Regardless of some positive outcomes that spanking can bring to a child, children should be moderately disciplined.

Works Cited

Kunz, J. (2013). THINK marriages and families, 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

"Spanking." International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family. 2003. Retrieved November 13, 2013 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406900414.html

Stern, L. (2013, November 13). Alternatives to spanking. Parents, Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/discipline/spanking/alternatives-to-spanking/?page=1

[Web log message]. (2011, December 17). Retrieved from http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/2011/12/17/myths-and-facts-spanking/

[Web log message]. (2010, January 10). Retrieved from http://lutheranscience.org/10-01-01.html