Essay on Children should not be spanked in order to discipline them for a negative behavior
The permissibility of spanking children is a widely disputed question both among the general public and among researchers. In the past, spanking was viewed as one of the methods of disciplining children and making them aware of the negative consequences of their actions. However, the protection of human rights and the movement against violence which is emerging worldwide led to the enactment of laws against corporal punishment in many countries. Furthermore, the convention of the United Nations prohibits using any types of physical violence towards children. At the same time, it is important to distinguish between spanking and other cases of physical punishment. Spanking can be defined as “hitting a child with an open hand on the buttocks or extremities with the intent to discipline without leaving a bruise or causing physical harm” (Kazdin & Benjet 99). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the viewpoints of the supporters and opponents of spanking. Key thesis of this paper is the following: children should not be spanked in order to discipline them for a negative behavior because spanking has negative consequences for their future development and mental health.
Spanking in any form still represents an act of aggression directed towards the child and executed by the parent or by the person who is responsible for the child’s behavior. Such behavior of a person who plays an important role in the child’s life and who is often perceived as a role model by the child is likely to have a negative impact on the child’s self-esteem, on the relationships with parents, etc. Spanking might undermine the basic trust to the world which is being formed in the early age. The researchers studied the impact of spanking on child’s behaviors and developmental outcomes and found a large number of negative consequences for children. It was determined that spanking correlates with such negative outcomes as lower quality of relationships between parents and children, poorer mental health, lower internalization of morals, increased risk of antisocial behaviors, aggressive behaviors and delinquency (Kazdin & Benjet 101).
Spanking is likely to increase the child’s stubbornness and therefore lead to more spanking needed in future to make the child pay attention to corporal punishment and to cause the desired behavior. Maguire-Jack, Gromoske and Berger (1961) studied the impact of spanking in early age (up to 3 years old) on child’s behavior and development between 3 and 5 years old. Their findings were the following: spanking children at age 1 led to elevated levels of spanking at age 3 and caused externalizing behaviors at this age; spanking at age 3 led to the increase of externalizing and internalizing behaviors at age 5. Although the authors did not identify a relationship between cognitive skills and spanking, they found out that spanking children at age 1 caused behavioral problems at age 5, largely due to increased spanking at age 3 (Maguire-Jack, Gromoske and Berger 1960). Hence, spanking is a self-reinforcing issue which causes behavioral problems and starts a negative cycle of interactions between child and his or her parents.
The supporters of spanking state that spanking allows to achieve immediate compliance of the child and helps to make the child aware that something very inappropriate was done. However, when parent-child relationships are healthy, there are other, less aggressive ways of making the child aware of wrong behaviors. Such methods might require more time and patience, but they do not have such long-term negative consequences as spanking. Certainly, there are various factors which influence the child’s perception of spanking and determine the impact of spanking on the child’s well-being. The supporters of spanking emphasize that it is necessary to distinguish between mild and occasional spanking used in extreme situations and more harsh and frequent spanking which might indeed contribute to aggression. However, it was already shown that spanking at age 1 is strongly correlated with more spanking at age 3, which means that the child’s sensitivity to spanking might reduce over time, and those parents who are prone to use spanking as a means of punishment might unintentionally move to more harsh spanking. Such dynamics of spanking illustrates that it is better to adopt other methods of managing inappropriate behaviors from the start than risk damaging the child’s mental health and behavior by spanking.
In general, research evidence clearly illustrates that spanking is a very risky parenting strategy which might have a negative impact on the child’s behaviors, perceptions and on parent-child relationships. Moreover, people who were spanked in the childhood are more likely to become the victims of aggression in their adult life. Therefore, spanking children in order to discipline them for inappropriate behavior is inadmissible and it should be banned. It is difficult to convince parents to stop spanking because of two key reasons: parents are not aware of long-term negative consequences that spanking might have on the child’s health and do not have alternative strategies of punishing for inappropriate behavior. It is important to educate parents about the consequences of spanking and to show alternative strategies to them. Possible alternative strategies include creating a “calm down” area for children, offering problem-solving scenarios for children in situations where they demonstrate improper behaviors, taking away some privileges for a particular period of time, organizing time-in when the parent stays with the child outside the situation, etc (Maguire-Jack, Gromoske and Berger 1972). Praising appropriate behaviors and discussing the consequences of misbehaviors for other people as well as their feelings also helps to avoid difficult situations in the future.
Do you like this essay?
Our writers can write a paper like this for you!
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading...