Child Discipline: Spanking
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. Burnett, Nancy. "To Spank or Not to Spank." Dateline 14 Jan. 1999. http://incestabuse.abuse...=dp&terms=child+discipline+spanking (13 Mar 2000). Straus, Murray. "Sparing the Rod." Parents. May 1997: 127+. Kuttner, Lawerence. "Spanking" Parenting Magazine Oct.1998: 44+. The worst part about spanking children is that it actually does not teach them to be better people, in fact it will only make them more aggressive towards others. It is just as bad to spank a child because it causes them to want to use force to solve their own problems. Hitting a child is no different than hitting someone else. Parenting Magazine says "hitting a child doesn't make teach them anything but to have a 'might makes a right' attitude towards others" (Kuttner 52). This means that using spanking as a disciplinary method only teaches them that hitting someone when they do something wrong is the right thing to do. Another magazine that deals with parenting issues basically says the same thing about physical punishment. "We do not say to our children (most of us, anyway), 'Hitting is right' or 'Hitting is a good thing to do.' We do not really believe that it is a good thing to hit people. Most of us are not 'in favor' of hitting children. However, many of us (most of us, actually) behave as if it is a good thing to do" says Murray Straus, a journalist for Parents. I think that the main problem is that parents are not informed well enough on the issue that spanking is so bad. The last quote shows that parents are totally unaware that they are even hurting their child because the parents "behave as if it is a good thing to do." Another thing that was brought to my attention was this: "studies of whole prisons populations all over the Western world show that criminals who used violence on their victims almost invariably had violence used against them when they were children" (Straus 131). I think that this also ties back to hitting being a way to solve problems, but in these circumstances the inmates used much more than just hitting. This also shows that when you hit a child it will effect them sometime in the
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Approximate Word count = 1755
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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