Essay
The issue of spanking and corporal punishment is a very important issue to be discussed. Personally, I do not think spanking should be an acceptable form of discipline for children, and young children in particular.
Though it is out of the question whether parents spank their children or not. I believe that most parents do spank their kids. The rest are just demonstrating such a soft approach in controlling their children’s behavior; and this, unfortunately, often results in some controversy as children might become spoiled, neglected, aggressive and even cruel.
‘The physical punishment of children has always been an accepted, even expected aspect of American families’ (Flynn 1996). A national survey held in 2008 showed that 65% of American women and 77% of American men agreed that child sometimes need a ‘good, hard spanking’ (Lansford et al. 2012).
If to speak of alternatives of children’s physical discipline, I would have to mention that some psychologically aggressive discipline strategies might turn out to be even more harmful. Children differ from each other. Some of them require time to get rid of vicious manifestation of the grow up process, others cannot be helped out at all. Parents should do their utmost to make children feel that they are truly loved, but it does not mean that any kid would be allowed to do whatever he/she wants.
In my opinion, done out of anger or with excessive force, any physical discipline, no matter whether it is spanking or repeated harsh punishment, it is an abuse.
The research shows that the majority of researchers are sure that repeated harsh punishment has a negative effect on mental health of children. Those children who regularly undergo physical punishment have a greater risk of facing cognitive impairments. Thus, for example, Gershoff (2002) proves that corporal punishment is associated with increased antisocial and even aggressive behaviors, delinquency, violence, and adult criminality in the punished children (Gershoff 2002).
Without any doubt, there are ethnics differences in the consequences of physical punishment. Lansford et al. (2004) quote Day et al who found that in the National Survey of Families and Households ‘European American and African American parents reported spanking children younger than five years of age more frequently’; however, the last reported spanking children of all ages more frequently than European American parents did’ (Lansford et al. 2004).
I think that my opinion of the physical punishment has not changed much. I still believe that children should be raised in love and should know what discipline means. If a child is disciplined in childhood, it is easier for him to study, to work or just to self-manage or plan his own future.
References
Flynn, C.P. (1996). Normative Support for Corporal Punishment: Attitudes, Correlates, and Implications. Aggression and Violent Behavior, Vol.1, pp. 47-55. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/5148128/Normative_Support_for_Corporal_Punishment_Attitudes_Correlates_and_Implications
Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.128.4.539.
Lansford, J. E., Deater-Deckard, K., Dodge, K., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S (2004). Ethnic differences in the link between physical discipline and later adolescent externalizing behaviors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 45 (4): 801-812.
Lansford, J. E., Wager, L. B., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., & Dodge, K. a. (2012). Forms of Spanking and Children’s Externalizing Behaviors. Family Relations, 61 (2), 224 – 236.doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2011.00700.x
