Smacking Essay

While courts continue to rule that spanking is okay, and schools are still using it as a measure of punishment in many areas of the county there are millions of Americans who protest the use of corporal punishment as a means to control or teach children lessons. For those who are against spanking they use the argument that it is assault on a child. Any form of hitting even a swat on the butt is an assault on a human being and should. “Most parents feel strongly for or strongly against spanking. Their positions are mainstays of their basic approaches to their children. At my town meetings and presentations, parents often split and oppose one another as they defend

One of the main points in the article “Why America Should Outlaw Spanking” by Emily Bazelon is about how many rights parents have in America. The main example talked about in this article is about corporal punishment and whether or not parents have the right to spank their child or not. Reasons being that some extreme parents take it too far sometimes, leaving bruises and possibly even fracturing bones. Politian’s believe that outlawing spanking would assist the courts in help make a ruling about child abuse. Spanking is a necessary evil that helps correct incorrect behavior. Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s we were always told that if

why wouldn't we think that it would be “ok” to hit? Spanking is a Hypocrisy something

Abuse is an experience that sticks with children forever; with high emotions and fears clogging their mind they have no room to think about other important factors such as schoolwork. Brain development is especially important in the younger years, and when a child is abused this interrupts the development for this student. This brain development trauma leads into the classroom in different areas of a child’s life such as cognitive functioning, interpersonal skills with others, and their overall academic performance (Finkelhor, 2008). One cannot simply expect a child who was an abused to not have any form of cognitive problems.

In the last two decades new analysis of research shows that physical punishment has long-term effect on children. The research concluding that physical punishment (spanking) actually has havoc on the child’s long term memory according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Neuroimaging evidence shows that physical punishment may alter parts of the brain involved in performance on IQ tests and up the likelihood of substance abuse. Also early data shows that spanking could affect areas of the brain involved in emotion and stress

Spanking can cause a child be depressed in the future. In fact, depression and spanking has been linked increasingly over time due to the fact that spanking has become more the norm in the last five years. According to Moses a psychologists and author of "Assessing Specific Discipline Techniques: A Mixed-Methods Approach." Claim that more and more kids who has depression has been linked to being spanked frequently in their

Therefore, as you can see from reading this article, the 49 states that legalized corporal punishment should have a law in place. A law that, not only, helps the children learn how to follow rules, but also protects them, and the teachers. Getting a spanking in school helped me more than it hurt me; nevertheless, we do need a law in place that would protect us

The experts that are against spanking say that it is a violent act and teaches children that hitting is okay. Pro spanking advocate, Dr. James Dobson, reprinted a very informative article by Dr. Den Trumbull M.D. and Dr. S. DuBose Ravenel M.D. entitled To Spank or Not to Spank: A look at an age-old question that baffles many physicians. It states, "There is no evidence in the medical literature that a mild spank to the buttocks of a disobedient child by a loving parent teaches the child aggressive behavior" (Dobson, 2004, p. 127). Dr. Dobson also cited the doctors whose article said that it is impractical to suppose that a child wouldn't show violent behavior if parents used other forms of discipline rather than spanking. Most toddlers, who have yet to be spanked because of their age, commonly strike out against others in aggravation. This is true of any toddler, seen out in public, who throws a temper tantrum over not getting his way. Countless parents, frustrated themselves, simply remove the child from making an undesirable scene. The only thing to do for a child of that age is to remove temptation and distract the child with a toy or juice cup. As the toddler grows, distraction is more difficult and the disciplining methods increase intensity. Some experts against spanking also argue that

Trying to reduce aggression while also using aggression is ineffective at lowering these rates in children . Studies have been done to show the correlation between

“A Midland mother is demanding justice after her child was allegedly slapped in the face. The report of child abuse was filed in June, a week after Tyverious Mackey’s birthday.” In any case anger should never result to violence (Williams). Even though kids should be disciplined but not to the point of beating them, discipline such as spanking is a must because punishing them will make them a better person and teaches kids that the adults are in control.

In the long run the psychological effects of spanking can become damaging to a child. A study given by the conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Maryland show that when an IQ test was given to children that received spanking the test showed they score less compared to the children that didn’t receive spankings. "What we are teaching a child when we spank her is that hitting is the solution when something doesn't go her way," explains Marilyn Benoit, M.D., president of the American Academy of Child

Spanking has been a controversial topic among many parents. Some believe it is just a form of discipline and is okay, while others believe that this is abuse or violence and it will harm the child in the long run.

Although child abuse has soon become a more discussed issue, it is nothing new in today’s society. Dating back to ancient times, physical child abuse has always attributed to lives of people around the world. Approaching and understanding child mistreatment has changed as societies have modernized and progressed; whereas one thing remains an unalterable issue, child abuse happens constantly and continuously worldwide.

Today, there is a common misconception that spanking is a form of child abuse. Some parents are actually afraid to discipline their own children using the same method used for their own upbringing. Who is correct in the notion of right and wrong discipline? Is there such a thing as a correct way to spank your child? In my opinion, there is. So, my objective is to show that there is a fine line between the two terms Spanking and Child abuse. A Cambridge Dictionary states that Child Abuse occurs “when adults intentionally treat children in a cruel or violent way.” On the other hand, Spanking in the same dictionary means “to hit a child with the hand, usually several times on the bottom as a punishment.” In this way, the line between the two can be drawn where too much spanking results in bruises and scars on the child. Therefore, parents should not spank their children when they are angry themselves as the spank would turn out to be an unintentional smack. When this occurs, parents tend to accidently take out their frustration on the child. Primarily, this is when Spanking, a form of discipline, starts drifting towards the entire concept of ‘child abuse’.

The authors also identify the known effects of spanking on childhood outcomes. They noted that most of the literature has been concerned with aggressive child outcomes, such as increased child stress reactivity (Bugenthal, Martorell, and Barraza, 2003). They also noted that studies are emerging on the connection between spanking and child cognitive outcomes. (Gershoff, 2010). They criticize these emerging works as suffering from a lack of "…adequate controls for the predictors of spanking, risk factors which themselves could be