Spanking as a Way of Child Discipline

             Parents use discipline to teach their children the difference between right and wrong. The type of discipline parents use is entirely up to them but, "ninety percent of parents say that they have used [spanking] as a mean of discipline on their child, and most parents say that it was used on them when they were youngsters" (James). Spanking is a form of discipline that has been used by many parents; but it is now becoming the method that is being frowned upon by most doctors and many parents. "The American Academy of Pediatricians say that spanking might actually do more harm than good"(Eisenhauer), meaning that the spanking will not correct the problems that the child has, but only make them worse. In some countries around the globe, such as Norway and Sweden, elected officials have made it totally illegal for parents to spank their child. Since this happened Oakland, California has established an official "No Spanking Zone." This proposes a question, is spanking a good form of discipline? From what the doctors say it certainly appears not to be and I think most parents tend to agree with them that spanking is not an acceptable form of discipline anymore. But according to the Critique of Anti-Spanking Study, found in Assertive Discipline, "experts do not all agree that spanking is harmful and some believe that mild spanking is a useful form of discipline" (Canter). Also the same study said "72% of people surveyed still find it acceptable to punish a child by spanking them" (Canter). These are very different conclusions than the one found by the other doctors and people asked above. Bringing the reader to the conclusion that all discipline is a form of opinion.

             Most opinions still lean toward spanking being a form of abuse and that spanking a child is totally unacceptable because striking a young child will not actually teach them to be good. Spanking also hurts children mentally and spanking a child is no different from hitting some one else.

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