Spare the Rod, Raise a Child
Corporal punishment has gained much attention from lawmakers and government leaders. Since the late 1970’s, there have been many studies conducted have concluded that there are many negative effects from the outcome of a parent spanking his child. There have been many people who have attempted to get physical punishments outlawed, and in some cities, they have been successful. In other areas, it is up to the parent or guardian of the child to choose how they would like to deliver the punishment. The topic of spanking seems to arouse strong opinions on both sides of the topic. While some parents believe that they must resort to violence, in order to send the message to their child, that the behavior that he is involved in will not be condoned, other parents seek alternative methods of punishment. Spanking a child is just one of many forms of punishment that a parent can implicate on his child. By choosing spanking as the method of punishment, the child is learning to use violence as a way to obtain a certain outcome. Soon-to-be parents should be aware that spanking their child has been shown to lead to aggressive behavior, fear of adults, and anti-social behavior, and because of these risks, the parents should not spank their children.
Spanking has been recorded since the Ancient Greek times. Spankings were administrated to the adults by pagan priests to increase fertility in women. The Catholics adopted this practice, but instead they used the concept to spank the sins out of women (Lefkowitz 23). The practice began to descend until it was an acceptable punishment for children. Many defenders of spanking believe that they have the right to spank their children because of the proverb “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” which is written in the Bible. By law, in most areas, spanking is left for the individual to determine if it is right for their child. Parents think that spanking is the most effective way to discipline a child because the child does not want to be hit for behaving the way they did that got them punished. The usual argument for supporters of spanking is that as children, the parents were punished by spanking, and their outcome was not defective. Some also argue that children are too young to communicate with, and therefore, they must get a slap on the buttocks in order for them to understand that the behavior is not wanted. (Since that is the only communication available). Although the general population that has been spanked does not appear to be devastatingly impacted by the punishments of their youth, there is still are a high percentage of parents that hit their children, like they were as children. “Although most moms who answered our survey – 81 percent – were spanked as children, only 49 percent say they use this method in disciplining their own kids. Put another way, today's moms are 39 percent less likely to use spanking than their parents” (BabyCenter). Based on this survey conducted by BabyCenter, half of moms that were spanked as children are continuing to use that form of punishment. This supports the theory that children will learn the behavior of hitting, and they are more likely to apply these methods to their own children. Spanking should not be confused with abuse. Many people that are anti-spanking will misinterpret information and over generalized information to fit their arguments. Spanking, in the intentions of this essay, will be minimal violence. Corporal punishment is when physical force is used as a form of punishment, in an attempt to change a behavior, and not to bring on injury. There are some extreme cases of spanking that has resulted in death of a child, but most children who are spanked do not have this outcome. Spanking a child can still lead to injury though, even if it isn’t vicious or pre-meditated. As a parent, you are taking that chance once you use physical force on a child. Children are smaller and therefore have less strength than an adult, which means you can’t handle as much force. In studies that have been conducted, results have shown that it is more likely that an abusive parent will take their aggression out on his child. If a person is already in an irate mood, then they are looking to take their aggressions out, so if the parent is already slightly annoyed, then the chances of the child getting those aggressions are at a fair chance. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have conducted a study that has shown that families that have low annual income and have less education and have a high chance of developing depression have a higher reporting of spanking their child (Lallanilla). This shows that the more stressed out parents are, whether it be for mental or for economic reasons, the children are more likely going to be getting the short-end of the stick. It was researched where parents get their information as to whether or not they should spank their children, and 30 percent of parents received messages of spanking from pediatricians and newspapers. The study showed that even though the group took the messages as against spanking, they spanked their child anyways (Walsh 87). This shows that parents are just acting on impulse and not taking into account of what research has to provide. Parents may find other ways to discipline their children, but because they do not have the patience to try other methods, they resort to giving their child a tap on the cheek. These actions have been tested repeatedly throughout the last few decades and the results show that children usually have aggression issues.
Although spanking your child might appear to settle the problem at the moment, there are some compelling studies that show that the child is more luckily to be more aggressive as a child and adult. There are many factors, which will determine the aggressiveness of each child. Each child will be different, but based on a longitudinal study conducted by Monroe Lefkowitz, who studied the development of aggression among young kids, and how they were affected as adults, it was concluded that children who were spanked were usually more aggressive at school and also as an adult (Lefkowitz 27). (For this study, parents and teachers and the children were interviewed in hopes of gathering as much data as possible.) Since most behavior is acquired through imitation, it is assumed that the children that are spanked or that receive punishment through some physical force would perform the same inflictions on others, especially children their own age. A child cannot defend themselves against a parent because of the obvious disadvantages that they have biologically, but children are on the same level with other kids their own age. The studies supported the hypothesis that “punishment of a child at home was correlated with the aggressiveness of a child at school” (Lefkowitz 37). Because spanking is performed at home, then there is a higher chance that the child will be aggressive at school and be violent to classmates.
Along with an increase of aggression in a child, there have been data to support that the child that gets spanked will be more anti-social. This could be for many reasons, depending on the situation. Along with studying aggression, Lefkowitz surveyed the classroom among popularity of the study subjects in their classrooms. The children that had higher numbered spanking per week were more anti-social than the students that parents gave them other means of punishment were more popular (Lefkowitz 158). A child may become anti-social for other means, and in this study, mental illness was not taken into account. But the averages that were derived by the study would be too coincidental for it all to be affected by mental illness. With all this negative data, it is hard to determine a justification as to why a parent must resort to physical force to get the wanted outcome out of his child. In this study, the children that had no physical force as punishment appeared to be happier and prospered more in school and their community. Instead of hurting a child to deliver a message, the parent should do some research and talk to experienced parents that have control over their kids without resulting to physical force.
There are many techniques that parents may use in order to get the best behavior out of their kids. The most frequently used method would be putting the child in a timeout. The child is not going to want to lose privileges, and this way, by losing things that the child enjoys, then they will not want to behave the way they did in order to lose that privilege. “Time-outs are appropriate whenever a child's misbehaving, but they'll work better if you use different names for them” (Beam). By communicating with the child, then they will understand what it is that was not appropriate and what the consequences of those actions will be. Repetition is what is ideal to get the behavior that is wanted. The child learns through repetition and by watching others around them. A better way to avoid punishment at all is to place your child in an environment where they will not learn those behaviors. Simple actions can be taken to avoid any need of spanking.
Parents, especially soon-to-be parents, should understand the dangers that come with spanking a child for punishment. Parents have been reported for almost board-line abuse with their kids by punishing them with corporal punishment. By performing physical forces on them to gain a certain behavior, the parent is promoting violence in the household, which children will bring to school with them. Spanking has shown an increase in aggression and anti-social behavior, but there are methods that can be taken that will allow a child to be under control without the need of spanking. By simple placing a child in the corner of the room, or simply taking away an item that they have, the parent is establishing a consequence for the unwanted behavior. Children are learning by what the parents are displaying, and the examples that they are setting today will impact how the child will act in the future.