Kaylee Ellis Disciplining Children When it comes to disciplining a child, there is no right or wrong answer on which way is the most effective way; not only right after the child misbehaves, but also how it will effect them later on in life psychologically and developmentally. All over the world culture, morals, and views all differentiate they way people punish their child. What is acceptable in America might not be acceptable in Japan and how Japanese parents penalize their children may not be what Americans agree with. Unless there is a universal agreement on how to punish a child, it will continue to be one of the most controversial topics in the parenting world. When disciplining a child, parents often seek the best way to get control over their disobedience as soon as they can.
There is a difference, however, between punching your child in the face, and spanking him on the bottom when he is misbehaving. Unfortunately, some parents take smacking and spanking their children too far. Some parents use physical discipline to the point where the child is receiving bruises or starts bleeding. Banning the spanking of children will not solve the real abusive cases. People who abuse their children will not stop just because it is illegal(1, Selwyn Duke , The New American).
But in others societies, like in America, spanking is not allowed for the many crimes that have been submitted by the abuse of this form of punishment. There are many reasons why spanking is not the best way to discipline children. One of the main reasons why spanking is an ineffective way to discipline children is that, when the parent spanks their child, the child may become violent as they grow older. Spanking does not always help the child to understand what they did wrong. It is more likely that the kid will do it again because it did not understood why they were spanked.
“Why is it when we see a parent smack their unruly child in public - despite the fact it’s entirely legal and the child belongs to someone else - we stare, we glare, we want to call child protective services. Is it really any of our business? And, why is it that when you’re doing the disciplining it’s O.K., but if someone else is, you just can’t bear it?” (Schur n.d.). I was spanked as a child. It did not make me become an abusive parent, nor do I think my parents were.
Corporal Punishment: An Unnecessary Evil Corporal Punishment, as Struas and Donnelly (2005) define, “the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correcting or controlling the child’s behavior” (p.3). Although perfectly legal in most states, to intentionally inflict pain upon our children to achieve a desired level of obedience, does not make it right or negate the fact that such types of punishment can have negative effects not only physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well. “Parents need to encourage their kids, support them, spend time with them, and tell them they love them. Parents should not be allowed to hit their children, that is violence and things will only get worse” (Covell & Howe, 2008, p.63). As times progress, more adults view on corporal punishment seem to be following suit, as seen in surveys over the years.
In the "old days," a mother wouldn't think twice about marching the defiant child to the bathroom and giving him a good spanking to straighten him out, but these days, parents have to worry about someone screaming child abuse. Whether or not to spank a child has become a heated issue in today's society. I personally think that the act of hitting or spanking a child does more harm than good and non-violent methods are more efficient in making the child understand the magnitude of his punishment and be repentant on his or her misconduct or misbehavior. This act of spanking, humiliating and hitting deliberately for infliction of pain, intended to discipline or reform a wrongdoer or change a person's behavior is called “CORPORAL PUNISHMENT”. Many countries have setup legislations and laws making Corporal Punishments illegal at school and home or in most cases, schools only.
Beating is defined as whipping or thrashing in punishment or an act of repeated hitting or striking (Farlex, 2010). According to Farlex (2010), Spanking is the number of slaps on the buttocks as punishment for children. Beating leads to child abuse because a parent or guardian does not know when to stop. They think beating a child repeatedly will make a child listen to them more. This is not true.
Is it the only method of discipline that works? Now what a lot of parents don’t know is that, not only does smacking have short term mental and physical effects, it also has long term psychological effects which is why I believe smacking should be banned. Research shows that smacking undermines children’s confidence, weakens their emotional relationships and encourages the use of violence to solve any conflict with people around them. Psychologists say that alcoholism, depression, masochistic fantasies and suicidal thoughts arise from being smacking during childhood. Let’s just stop for a minute and think about this, how on earth can we expect children to play with other children without hitting each other, if we as
The three points I’ll be sharing with you today are that: | | |There are better alternatives for behaviour modification |Children all over the world share the same basic needs for safety, | |Children vs. parent rights |health, nurturance and dignity. | |And that smacking your child causes lasting negative psychological |Hitting your child as a punishment is an ineffective discipline | |effects. |strategy for children of all ages and furthermore, it is dangerous. | | |It conflicts with these goals and has no place in any child’s life. | |My first argument is that there are better alternatives for behaviour|Many parents continue to hold the view that it is their right to | |modification, and that smacking your child is not one of them.
Hitting Children Example of Physical violence such as slapping or beating , can range from a mild to strong slap in the face causing bruising and abuse of the body of the child. Some believe that attacking children as a means of discipline and as a style of education is acceptable. They also think that it teaches them not to do things and that it prevents them from what repeating the unacceptable behavior therefore making this practice effective. The imposition of control when parents use physical violence or the threat of violence to control the behavior of the child and include beatings. This method is wrong because it had bad consequences.