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Essay on Corporal Punishment

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Corporal Punishment Corporal punishment has been a part of family life for thousands of years, taking its place in societies all over the globe. From wood switches to thick leather belts, all sorts of tools have been used to discipline naughty children. No one has ever really examined the question of whether or not this form of punishment is productive or counterproductive. In examining the situation of whether or not this form of punishment is warranted or even what one might consider proper, a sample situation must be examined. Let’s say, for argument’s sake that a little boy named Johnny just threw a temper tantrum and threw his bowl of Coco CrispiesÓ all over the kitchen floor. Now there are two things his mother could do at …show more content…

Now if she had spanked him or taken harsh words with him, she would be the lesser for it. He would be left with no reason for why his action was wrong, and he would resent his mother and possibly end up with some emotional damage since his mother gave him no reasoning behind her actions. He would see his mother as an abusive parent, which would lead him to fear his mother for years to come, dissolving any possibility of them ever developing a normal mother-son relationship.

This is just one fictional example that probably takes form in some way or another in the homes of millions of families. It is more than a question of whether or not to hit a child; it is a question of whether or not it benefits the child. Harsh words and/or a physical punishment do not adequately correct a child and they also leave the child with unanswered questions as to why he was punished in that manner. Those who use this form of punishment try to justify it by saying that they had it used on them and they turned out “o.k.” In response to this, only one out of three persons who smoke actually die from smoking. Does this mean that cigarettes are not harmful? No, cigarettes are harmful, it is just that not everyone who smokes actually dies from it. In the same way, not everyone who has encounters with corporal punishment as a child, ends up getting hurt in some way or another. With so many advances in the field of child psychology, one must wonder why corporal

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