Effectiveness of Corporal Punishment

One of the hardest quantities in discussing corporal punishment is clearly separating it from physical abuse. Much research on the topic is fueled by the substantial base of those concerned with child abuse and the violence that children experience in their own homes (Redman & Taylor, 2006; Straus, 1999). The purpose is not to determine if abuse is ethical under any circumstances, but to determine if physical punishment is an ethically sound way for parents to demonstrate discipline. Corporal punishment can occur in many different forms including: spanking, a flick of the ear, tap/slap on the hand, or a pinch or squeeze to a child’s arm (Oas, 2010). Examples of how these actions may transpire are with the parent’s hand, a wooden spoon, or belt. Oas (2010) describes physical abuse as “non-accidental

A recent study shows 70 percent of parents believe it is right to discipline a child through physical means. Most commonly, parents will spank their children but being hit with things like belts or other objects happens as well. Parenting methods haven’t changed much with time and discipline in similar no matter the country. With more studies out to find the most effective method of parenting and discipline it’s coming to attention whether or not physical harm is the best way to teach children. Parents want what is best for their children, so it is important to constantly bring up and question methods commonly accepted in the past. One method that is becoming more controversial is spanking children. Though it is still considered normal to do, it is gaining more traction and more studies are being done to find the problems it causes. Checking on parenting methods can be difficult as everyone is raised differently. It is also difficult to test which forms of punishment lead to certain outcomes. However, there is a trend of negative effects from hitting. Gershoff acknowledges, “several national professional organizations have called on parents to abandon spanking as a child rearing practice and for professionals to recommend disciplinary alternatives to spanking.” Spanking children is a terrible discipline method as it has negative effects.

Living in the twenty-first century you rarely ever see someone spank their child or hear the word spank come out of a parent’s mouth. I see too many parents today that are too self-righteous to “spank” their children, because many people see spanking as form of abuse. Many parents in today’s world use more reasonable punishments for their misbehaving children. Some parents put their children in time-outs, deny them of their freedom, take toys away and ground them. I have seen parents use these methods because there are more reasonable ways of punishing their child for being disobedient. However, not everybody in today’s world uses these methods for punishing children; some parents use the act of spanking for punishment. Spanking was a popular punishment back in the 1900s, but is a very debatable topic in today’s society.

By avoiding the use of corporal punishment these methods are much more effective as long as they remain consistent. Respecting a child and managing their growth is necessary, it is how these punishments are effective when implemented in future situations. These corporal punishments often start as exactly that, punishment, but ‘nearly two-thirds of the abusive incidents begin as acts of corporal punishment meant to correct a child's misbehaviour.’ (Gershoff, 2010). Trying to find out why a child is behaving in a certain manner is also very important in determining if a direction change is needed rather than the constant use of abuse. Even more evidence of these actions above show that in analysis of the studies, (Gershoff, 2010) it was found that in 87 percent of the cases corporal punishment the children actually showed considerably less long-term compliance, displaying that it actually is not a viable method to sustaining a child’s

Currently, 24 countries have banned the practice of spanking children; labeling it child abuse. However, in America 49 states permit physical punishment by parents (Gershoff). There are mandates that define appropriate physical punishment, but there is truly no appropriate way to hit a child. Parents often resort to spanking in an effort to control their child’s behavior. It is true that most children will immediately respond to the pain that is inflicted upon them and stop the bad behavior. However, it is proven to make children more aggressive towards others. Furthermore, it is not worth the risk of causing life altering psychological impairments. Instead parents should focus on non-violent forms of discipline, such as positive reinforcement and redirection or time-out. Spanking may give parents the immediate satisfaction of changed behavior, but it is not worth the life-time of damaging

When considering the effectiveness of corporal punishment, it is important to take into consideration the effects that it has on whole populations rather than just one case. Jared Pingleton, a clinical psychologist and a minister writes in an article for Focus on the Family as an appeal for the necessity of corporal punishment, “Many parents today view themselves primarily as their child’s friend and recoil at the idea of administering discipline. Children, though, desperately need their parents’ love and affirmation as well as their authoritative guidance and correction”. (Pingleton, 2014) This way of thinking about discipline is very important regardless of whether corporal discipline is used, but the use of spanking is often the most immediately effective way of conveying this message. Pingleton suggests in his step by step guide to carrying out discipline that when a parent approaches spanking properly, it can create a lasting sense of love and respect between the parent and the child. Spanking is used around the world to influence child development, and although it has many positives, it is also necessary to examine its’ alternatives.

While reading Cleverley & Phillips ' Visions of Childhood I found that many views of the past relating to corporal punishment have changed significantly. During my readings I read things that instantly stood out to me. The first being how many issues and their solutions revolved around religion. John Wesley, was the founder of the Methodist Movement, and he believed that children were born with sin and that it was the parental duty to discipline the unruly child, starting at an early age. During this time period, corporal punishment was a common practice. Wesley used reference to the Bible verse in Proverbs to declare, “Spare the rod, spoil the child”, (Cleverly and Phillips, 1986) in turn parents believed they were doing God’s will with their harsh punishments.

My theories have changed since I entered the program at Southeast Tech. When I entered the program I believed in matters such as time-outs. I also did not fully understand the effect that corporal punishment could have on a child. Since that time I have learned other ways to handle challenging situations such as time-ins, having conversations on the child’s level, or calm-down times. My time in this program has also taught me about all the work that goes into planning the curriculum for young children. Before, I just thought educators of young children just picked selected items they thought were cute, worked on letters, numbers, and other things of that sort. Now, I thoroughly understand all the work and thought that should be put into

I feel that teachers who apply corporal punishment don’t know how to deal with children in an acceptable manner, they don’t possess the necessary tools to deal with the situation. They don’t follow the ethical code of SACE and take matters into their own hands. I feel that they use this tactic to scare children instead of engaging with them in a caring manner because they don’t have a passion for teaching and developing children. Sometimes teaching is just another job to

It is effective corporal punishment towards children. For instance, if there is not corporal punishment as a child they would be aggressive and not be ready for the real world. What I want to say in the real world is that they will not be direct, but they will do what they want but there will be consequences. It is right to physical punishment. Some may say that corporal punishments come with issues as aggressiveness later in the future. Paul C. Holinger on the article “Why Physical Punishment Does Not Work” states “Studies show that children who are hit identify with the aggressor and more likely to become hitters themselves, i.ie. bullies and future abusers of their children and spouses. They tend to learn to use the behavior as a way to

In the past research has mainly focused on the negative effects of corporal punishment on children only recently has it begun to focus on potential factors that influence individual perceptions of corporal punishment. This study aimed to investigate the effects of SDO on an individuals perception of corporal punishment. In this study they hypothesized that people with high SDO levels would see more child punishment as legitimate uses of parental authority than those with lower levels SDO. For this study they used a questionnaire with scenarios like: “Seven-year-old (five-year-old or thirteen-year-old) Emily was arguing with her younger sister, fighting over a toy. Emily ended up calling her younger sister an inappropriate name. Her father was

Discipline is one of the basic things a child learns from his parents before he or she faces the outside world to learn more about life as a whole. Teaching this trait can depend on how the parent shows it to their child and how they explain the importance of having this trait both in and out of their homes. Misbehaving children cannot be avoided as they are curious little beings and they have a tendency to explore. But there are some parents, even teachers, who do not tolerate misbehaving and they resort to corporal punishments such as spanking to make sure the child never forgets how painful it is to misbehave as they will remember the punishment entailed to it and become more disciplined. However, not all children would understand the

However, the home is the most common place nowadays where corporal punishment is used. Parents spank/hit their child to keep them from misbehaving. Hitting children may actually increase misbehavior. One large study showed that the more parents spank children for rebellious behavior, the more the rebellious behavior increased. Corporal punishment can often cause injuries and trauma unnecessarily. Many acts of corporal punishment leave visible marks and bruises. Using corporal punishment could often evoke fear of the disciplinarian, which could potentially destroy the relationship between parent and child. The mental anguish, particularly for vulnerable students, can last a lifetime. This doesn’t have the effect of dealing with bad behavior. It can lead

It is a common enough scene, something you have probably experienced with your own children countless times. They are being loud, fighting, or just generally doing something they are not supposed to be doing. So you spank them. Maybe even yell. You’re frustrated, at your whit’s end. You just want them to stop, want them to learn and make better choices. Only, after spanking them, their behavior worsens. The effect you thought spanking them would have is not working. They act out more, get more aggressive. A debate has risen, as scenarios such as this become more talked about. Some say corporal punishment is damaging psychologically and negatively impacts childhood development. So the question has to be asked: “Is spanking bad?”

Mankind has successfully survived the pitfalls of the natural world and escaped extinction for thousands of years; moreover, though humanity has evolved within the technical world extraordinarily, human nature has remained stagnant. From Athens and ancient Egypt, to pre-Columbian America, children were hit in every great civilization without exception (Maurel). The United States of America, a country founded upon the ideals of freedom and individual liberties, has long practiced the time-honored method of corporal punishment, most effectively: spanking. Though this age-old method of discipline has been present within nearly every pivotal society and civilization to date, many nations have taken the initiative to federally ban the use of corporal