Spanking Children
Anthony Chamberlain

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to use different forms of disciplining children other than spanking.

Central Idea: By practicing alternative methods to discipline children, the child and parent will both be rewarded.
Introduction

[Attention] I. Quote.
II. Definition of Spanking
III. Even though physical punishment has declined since the 60s, two-thirds of Americans still use it as a form of discipline.
IV. Today I would like to persuade you to use different forms of discipline other than spanking, now or when you decide to start having children.

(Transition: Let’s begin by addressing why spanking would not be good for the child.)

Body

[Need] I. According to psychcentral.com, spanking children can send them wrong messages.
A. Spanking can show a child that violence solves problems. 1. Physical punishment can be seen as a form of bullying. 2. Can send a message to a child that hitting is an effective way to get others to things their way.
B. The idea that “stronger” is always right is another message a child could take away from spanking.
1. It shows a child that whoever is stronger is always right.
2. A child may think that if he or she gets stronger than their parent or someone that they will always be right by using violence. C. Spanking could also teach a child how to be sneaky. 1. Some parents think spanking their child I the quick way to change the unwanted behavior. 2. It may solve or fix the behavior for a short period of time, but not permanently. 3. The child might make the parent think the problem is solved, by not doing what he or she got a spanking for when the parent is around, but does it when the parent is not around. 4. The child may start off by being sneaky with just doing little things like, taking cookies from the cookie jar behind their parents back, but it can lead to more serious instances where the child is taking money from their parents without permission. 5. The child might even do it again just to be rebellious, because they got a spanking.

(Transition: Now that we’ve established why spanking is not an effective way to discipline one’s child, let’s talk about some more effective options of discipline.)

[Satisfaction] II. Parents can use these alternative methods instead of spanking. A. A parent could use the withdrawal or delay of privileges method. 1. Privileges are special rights, advantages, or immunities granted or available to a particular person or group of people. 2. The withdrawal or delay of privileges method is when a child wants something or wants to do something, that is considered a privilege, but can’t until what he or she is supposed to get done is done. 3. For example, a sixteen year old wants a car for their birthday, but they get in trouble in school and at home. 4. The parents, using the delay of privileges method, would then tell them that they could not get a car until they stopped getting into trouble. 5. More than likely the child would stop getting into trouble. The parent gets the unwanted behavior to stop and the child gets the privilege they wanted. B. Letting children deal with their consequences is another form of discipline. 1. A consequence is a result or effect of an action or condition. 2. My little brother use to play the Xbox all the time. He would be playing a game and would lose, then proceed to throw the game controller on the ground out of anger. Unusually he would just pick it up and do the whole cycle over again. But one day I guess he threw it especially hard and the controller couldn’t take it anymore so it broke. The buttons popped out and it just stopped working. He asked my dad to get him another one, but he said no my brother had to deal with the consequences of breaking the controller. My brother no longer throw s the game controller when he loses a game. C. Time-out is the most effective way to discipline toddlers says, Paediatr Child Health. 1. Time-out is a form of punishment that involves temporarily separating a child from an environment where inappropriate behavior has occurred. 2. It is effective because it keeps the child from getting attention that might make him or her think their behavior is okay. 3. Time-out is not the quick fix most parents want, but it will decrease the frequency of the unwanted behavior more permanently. [Visualization] III. The parent and child could potentially be rewarded by using these alternatives methods. A. The parent won’t have to feel bad about having to spank their child. B. They also won’t have to worry about sending the wrong messages to their child. C. The child won’t have to feel the pain from getting spanked.

Conclusion

[Action] I. I am urging you to use these alternative methods over spanking for discipline.
II. You will not have to worry about sending your child the wrong messages.
III. You and the child will feel better, because you won’t have to spank them and your child will not have to feel the pain from getting spanked.

References

"Effective Discipline for Children." Journal List 9 (2004): 37-41. NCBI. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 28 Oct.
2013.

Smith, Brendan L. "The Case against Spanking." Http://www.apa.org. American Psychological Associatioin, Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

Olver, Kim. "10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Spank Your Kids." Psych Central.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.