Corporal Punishment to Discipline Children?
Drew Sheldon
PSY101: Introduction to Psychology
Instructor: Carmilla Solomon
September 7, 2015

Corporal Punishment to Discipline Children? Is corporal punishment needed to discipline children? This is a very good question and one that many parents may not even think about because many parents will end up parenting the way their families have parented. But there are more and more parents asking the question, “Is there a better way to discipline my child other than physically hurting my child”. There have been many people who claim that corporal punishment is even good for children. “Corporal punishment, when used lovingly and properly, is beneficial to a child because it is in harmony with nature itself.” (Dobson, 2015) On the other side there are many people who claim that corporal punishment is not the best choice. Corporal punishment may become abuse, it can make a child more aggressive and violent, and “spanking may seem to ‘work’ at first, it loses its impact after a while.” (The American Academy of Pediatrics, 2015) According to American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry there are many different approaches to help change a child’s behavior, like positive reinforcement, time-outs, loss of privileges, and corporal punishment or otherwise known as physical punishment. Defining the words discipline, punishment, and corporal punishment is a good start for parents and then looking to see what ways of correcting behavior fall into that category. Discipline is to teach one to obey rules and effective discipline help a child learn the difference between right and wrong and gets them to behave just because they fear punishment. Punishment is to inflict an unpleasant penalty for an offense or verbal punishment “yelling”; to make pay. Punishment is to get one to stop doing something you do not want them to do by using a painful or unpleasant consequence. Corporal punishment is physical punishment, such as “spanking” or hitting, slipping, or anything physically done to the body to inflict pain; to make pay with body. Many believe physical and verbal punishment teaches children that physical violence is acceptable when things do not go the way you like or to resolve conflict. These forms of punishment are said to be more effective in relieving the parents’ anger and frustration than in teaching a child self-control. Verbal punishment may go to the extreme of verbal abuse which is known to be just as hurtful, if not more hurtful than physical abuse. Many parents believe that spanking is the only thing that works. Or they believe you need to use physical punishment in order to show children who is boss and they also believe since they were spanked and they believe they turned out fine, that they will also use physical punishment to get their children to mind. Dr. James Dobson explains how corporal punishment is a natural consequence. An example he gives would be if a child touched something like a hot stove, the natural consequence is they will get burned and the child will quickly learn to not do it again, so therefore physical punishment is a way of teaching children in the same way natural consequences is. Dobson also talks about how physical punishment is okay and effective if it is done by a loving, caring parent or in a loving, caring way. Physical punishment done out of anger and pushing it to the point of leaving marks is abuse and not effective.
According to a 2010 article on the BioMed Central website, the studies they looked at physical punishment showed to not be linked to subsequent antisocial behavior. They do however, believe parents should choose the most mild form of disciplinary tactics that are effective, but that more defiant children still need stronger tactics to enforce the milder tactics to achieve that goal behavior. One of the conclusions in this article states, “How and when disciplinary tactics are used may be more important than which type of tactic is used. In an article by Brendan L. Smith, there is mention of Dr. Larzelere who is pro physical punishment, but he does believe parent should use it less. It is encouraged to use milder forms of punishment more often and leave physical punishment as a last resort. There is a lot more in this article that focuses on other forms of discipline and explains reasons why parents should not use physical punishment.
Some of the main points made on why parents should not use physical punishment is because children learn from adults and by adults “spanking” that is only reinforcing that it is ok to use physical force to solve problems. Other effects of physical punishment explained by American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry are children may become bullies to other children, be more aggressive, have more behavioral problems, fear their parents, and poor self-esteem.
There are many countries where corporal punishment as a form of discipline with children has been banned, but even that being said there are many countries where it is not banned and as many as 94% of parents still use corporal punishment, according to Larzelere, Cox, and Smith, (2010).
The American Academy of Pediatrics are firmly against physical punishment, but even that being said 19 states currently still allow physical punishment in school setting, according to Jones, (2014). Jones also goes on to talk about who uses corporal punishment and more statistics. For instance physical punishment “increases as family income decreases, and black children are much more likely to be spanked than white kids. Parents who were spanked are also more likely to spank their own children.” (Jones, 2014)
Statistics also show that physical punishment is more commonly used on preschool and school-aged children and even more upsetting is 15% of children under the age of one year are also spanked. Children this young are not old enough to understand why they are being spanked, they are still too young to make the connection that the spanking was for the behavior that their parent did not approve of.
PsychPage.com has an article (2010), where they mention Gershoff, E.T., questioning why violence against children to change their behavior is socially excepted, but yet violence against adults, animals, and criminals to change their behavior is illegal.
There are many other forms of discipline that are said to be more effective than corporal punishment, like “Active Ignoring”, positive reinforcement, time-outs, modeling the behavior you want to see from your children, and withholding privileges.
The American Academy of Pediatrics defines “active ignoring” as an effective approach to use with a child who is whining or throwing a tantrum, by briefly removing all attention from the child and then when the child uses a new appropriate behavior, they receive the positive parental attention again. This positive parental attention, usually praise, is also known as a form of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement can also be the child earning a material object (toy) or they may get to choose a special activity (go out for ice cream).
Time-out can be looked at as a form of “active ignoring” and works best on young children. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, for time-outs to work you should set clear rules ahead of time, have a specific time-out spot, and set a specific time-out time (appropriate for the age of the child, usually 1 minute per year they are old) and start the time when the child is calm.
Modeling good behavior is a powerful way for children to learn the proper behaviors. Children learn from watching and modeling the behavior they see, so if a parent is modeling the proper behavior then it is more likely the child will follow the parents’ example. “Do what you say, say what you mean, and mean what you say.” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2015)
Everyone learns from consequences and there are different kinds of consequences. Dobson mentions natural consequences, but with natural consequences the health and safety of a child need to come first. Yes, a child will learn a stove is hot if they touch a hot burner, but if you can prevent them from getting burned then you should stop them, not let them get burned to learn their lesson.
Another type of consequence is logical consequences. Logical consequences are something that may be arrange by the parent. For example, not putting your dirty laundry in the laundry basket may have the logical consequence that your laundry may not get washed then you will have no clean clothes to wear. Or if you choose to not clean your room then you choose to not be able to go outside and play.
Consequences are a powerful learning tool for anyone. They us learn to make decisions and then be responsible for the outcome of our actions. Also, by parents calmly and firmly, but yet kindly, giving their child choices then the parent is not the “bad guy” when the child makes the “bad choice”. By giving a child choices and allowing the child to make the decision on their own, it means they excepted the consequence for their actions when they made their choice. For example you give your child the choice to stop screaming in the car and they may have their 30 minutes of TV time, but if they choose to keep screaming in the car then they choose to lose their TV time for the day. When they choose to keep screaming and they get upset because they lost their TV time, you can calmly say you are sorry, but when they chose to keep screaming they made the choice, not you. It is important to keep in mind the age of the child when giving them their choices and the consequences need to be age appropriate. Also, if health and safety are an issue then you may need to make changes accordingly.
Something to think about when deciding if you believe corporal punishment is an effective parenting tool for discipline, is why do parents actually resort to physical punishment? Is it because they are mad or frustrated and they need to take out their anger and frustration on someone? Is it because they are too angry to stop and think of a better way to handle the situation? Could it be because they do not know how to discipline in more effective ways? Or could it be because physical punishment is easier, quicker, and requires less thought?
Children are born neither good or bad and depending on how they are treated, their personality, their life experiences, and their reaction to those experiences will determine if they turn out good or bad. Children need to be disciplined in ways that will teach them what is appropriate and not appropriate. Harsh punishment is more likely to teach child how to deceive and it also makes it more likely that the child learns to solve their problems and conflicts with violence.
Going back to the definitions of discipline, punishment, and corporal punishment, as a parent do you want to teach your child, make them pay for something they did wrong, or make them physically pay for doing wrong. As an adult it is illegal for someone to physically make you pay for your wrong doing, but it is legal to physically make your child pay for their wrong doing.
Giving a child consequences and modeling the behavior you want to see from them are better tools to use to teach them. It is more important for a child to learn that you cannot run out in the street because you could get hit by a car and get hurt really badly or you could even be killed, than it is for a child to learn that you can run out in the street as long as you do not get caught because if you get caught you will get punished.
Effective discipline will keep a child’s self-esteem intact, it can be used on young children and teenagers effectively, and it can help model effective ways to solve problems and conflicts. It is better that a child learns to talk and work through a conflict than it is for a child to grow up and try to use their fists to solve everything.
If you are spending in your vehicle, you know you may have consequences for this choice. Your spending could cause you to lose control of your vehicle and your natural consequence would be you wreck your vehicle. Nothing may happen at all, but if you are caught by a police offer, you may end up with a ticket. Paying a fine is unpleasant and having to spend your money paying for your fine instead of the new video game you have been saving for or your vehicle insurance going up may be what it takes to get you to think twice before speeding again. When you got pulled over for speeding you did not get punched, hit, kicked, or spanked for your wrong doing, but you can learn from the consequences you got.
Look at a cute little puppy. Many people are very successful at house breaking a puppy, without physically punishing them. People are supposed to be smarter than a puppy, so if it’s possible to train a puppy without physical punishment shouldn’t it be possible to “train” a human child without physical punishment.
Children have to learn what is right and what is wrong the same way an adult learns a new trade. You go to school to be taught not punished. When you are at your new job, someone trains you (shows you) how to do your job. The person training you does not hit, spank, or slap you when you make a mistake, instead they help you learn from it. Why should it be any different with a child? They are learning something new and they should learn from their mistakes not just be punished for not knowing any better.
Many people will continue to argue that corporal punishment is a must to get children to learn how to behave and that if parents are not allowed to physically punish their children then their children will not learn. There are many people that say they would rather spank their child now than end up with a child in prison later. Is this true? Do we have to physically punish a child for them to learn?
There are many different approaches to discipline and maybe the approaches that teach children to think for themselves and the approaches that teach them the really reason why you cannot do specific things is best. Or maybe a little spanking now and then is what some children need to learn right from wrong.
In the United States parents still legally have the right to physically punish their child as long as they follow their state laws on the regulations of what is legal and what is not. It is important for parents to love, care for, and protect their children and they will do this in the way they see fit for them and their child. It is important for parents to learn how to parent, how to teach their children right from wrong, and it is better to have several tools to use and not just one. Just like a handy man needs more than just a hammer to fix your leaky faucet or your broken window.

Dobson, J. (2015). Is Corporal Punishment Okay? Retrieved from: http://drjamesdobson.org/Solid-Answers/Answers?a=6bf44299-6930-4746-895d-77e52ca9e92a
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2015). Disciplining Your Child. Retrieved from: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/communication-discipline/Pages/Disciplining-Your-Child.aspx
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Physical_Punishment_105.aspx American Academy of Pediatrics. (2015). Other Approaches to Discipline. Retrieved from: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/communication-discipline/Pages/Other-Approaches-to-Discipline.aspx Smith, B.L., (2012). The Case Against Spanking. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/spanking.aspx Jones, C., (2014). Corporal Punishment in the Home: Parenting Tool or Parenting Fail. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/corporal-punishment-in-the-home-parenting-tool-or-parenting-fail/ PsychPage. (2010). Corporal Punishment in Children – What Does It Accomplish? Retrieved from: www.psychpage.com/family/disc.html Lefrancois, G.R. (2011). Psychology: The Human Puzzle. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. San Diego, C.A.