As a first generation daughter of two Caribbean Jamaican immigrants, the aversion to certain stigmas in parenting differs from the widely accepted Western Canadian ideals. Cultural and religious differences makes for a large impact in what is and is not accepted when it comes to raising a child. From my personal experience, one aspect of my upbringing that I do not want to carry over when I eventually become a parent is spanking. While I know from talking with others also from Caribbean heritage that I did not fully experience the heavy handed rage of my mother, the few blows I did receive during my childhood I have never forgotten.
The topic of spanking is controversial in Canadian society. In accordance with the Criminal Code of Canada,
Spanking is subjective in the least. Most parents suggest that using spankings as a form of discipline is essential to the development of a compliant child. For most Americans, this truth is one of the core foundations of the American model home. “70% of mothers indicated they had spanked their child at least once by the time he or she was 2-years-old” (Lee, Altschul and Gershoff, 2015.) There are numerous amounts of evidence that point to the certainty that spanking is linked to child aggression. In,
Spanking is a fiercely debated social issue in many countries, such as the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, and Germany. There are questions over what intensity of pain is suitable until it crosses the threshold into abuse. Up until the mid-20th century it was perfectly okay in most communities for a spanking to cause a child to cry in pain throughout and have difficulty sitting down afterward, even resulting in stripes or bruises for days. Nowadays several think even mere redness of the skin abusive, while others would call it effective discipline. This causes questions as to whether children should be spanked. In addition, whether spanking is an effective method of discipline and at what point does it constitutes child abuse.
Among Vietnamese families is to tie a misbehaving child 's ear to a doorknob as punishment.in some other culture a child could be beaten/whip and physical injury inflicted as a means of discipline. To them their action is normal based on their cultural believe. (Mclntyre et al 1992) The American middle-class culture is one of the few that uses positive reinforcement procedures while limiting punishment when deemed necessary, a mild, spanking may be administered, although a more frequent practice is to isolate the misbehaving child, withdrawing love and affection for a period of time (Mclntyre et al 1992). These majority culture parents perceive their methods as being more humane than those that incorporate physical punishment. However, other cultural/ethnic groups often view the dominant culture style as being crueler. (Mclntyre et al 1992). While some culturally diverse guardians may use quickly administered physical punishment, they would never hint at an emotional separation from their progeny that might create feelings of rejection in the child. (Mclntyre et al 1992)
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.
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
Have you ever been spanked as a kid and felt angry towards your parents? Did you feel they just hated you? Spanking is a form of corporal punishment which is a punishment intended to cause pain in many different ways. Corporal punishment started in slavery and led to schools and homes. Although many states have banned corporal punishment it is still allowed in 19 out of 50 states. Many adults will agree children just need a ‘good ol’e spanking’ and others will argue that it is a negative way to parent and causes more problems. Spanking children is not a proper way of parenting because it gives a negative effect on children.
Her credentials are professional nanny with “twenty-five years experience of helping families." Her stake in this issue is to help “parents transform the troublesome behavior of children and bring more peace and harmony to families.” She aims this book at parents of toddlers and young children. Her purpose is to persuade readers that discipline is not a bad thing and inform readers the proper way of implementing effective discipline techniques. She writes in an effort to “change that perception here and now because… parents’ inner conflict over the idea of discipline has led to lax, inconsistent, and ineffective methods of disciplining children, resulting in their being raised without proper limits and boundaries, and ultimately without respect, empathy, and compassion for others.” She claims that by implementing her five toddler rules parents will head in the right direction to creating “well-behaved respectful individuals.” She argues as related to the topic, discipline absolutely must not be physical… I’m credited in Great Britain with being responsible for 67 percent of parents now choosing not to spank, by helping them learn effective nonphysical discipline techniques. She reports a statistical ratio of parents who were spanked as children and currently claim to spank their children (sharp decline). She reports her findings resulted because the adulds who recieved corporal punishment as
The poll asked if a child less than one year old should be spanked. As a result, 81 percent of the mothers disagreed with spanking a child less than a year of age, and 19 percent believe a child under a year of age should be spanked (Jet 16). Then when asked if a child of 1-3 years old should be spanked, 26 percent disagreed with spanking at that age and an astounding 74 percent agreed with spanking a child of this age(Jet 16). When asked about the harshness of the spanking, 92 percent said they do not leave visible marks of damage while only eight percent say they do leave a mark upon the child (Jet 16). The results of both polls show consistent finding with the research of sociologist Richard J. Gelles, PhD, and director of the Family Violence Research Program at the University of Rhode Island. He Believes ?Hitting children is so taken for granted in out society that almost all parent view spanking as an inevitable part of raising children?(Working Mother 48). He believes this ideology will remain apart of our culture because it is infused within each of us since birth (Working Mother 48).
Spanking Isn’t Child Abuse, It’s Common Sense, by Ruban Navarrette deals with one of the biggest controversies in parenting ever since the twenty-first century: spanking your child. Ruban’s main point in this article is that fear is essential to respect and children won’t do what we tell them to do unless they fear
While this review of literature on spanking children is limited in finding evidence in supporting spanking, the research available that opposes spanking is rather compelling. The findings from the reviewed articles provide advice to parents, both new and long-time, on how to discipline their children if they want their children to have the best outcomes. The studies that have been reviewed are only a small amount of what has been published regarding the negative impacts that spanking can have on children. Additionally, this research may be a start for a move in society to begin viewing spanking as a negative child-rearing practice. While there is a lot more research that could be reviewed on this topic, high levels of aggression, behavioral problems, and
With new upcoming generations and a changing society, traditional practices of how people live are changing; arguably for the better or worse. Some of these changes include the controversial to spank or not to spank question, in which new studies are aiming to show the effects of spanking on children. “With more than 30 years of research, we can now visualize accurately how spanking can alter a child’s perception.” (Scrock 2009) Although spanking has been the “go-to” way of discipline, it is starting to be looked on as a form of child abuse. After all, there are great reasons as to why organizations like the American Psychological Association and American Academy of Pediatrics condemn spanking. We will talk about the problems spanking causes in children, the misconception on why parents do it, and how to properly discipline your child. This essay argues that parents should not spank their child and should instead turn to other measures of discipline.
Many studies on cases of adults who have tendency to perpetuate abuses, either as a victim or as an abuser, are traced in the pattern of violence experienced at home, and many are reportedly experience being physically violated by spanking during their childhood. Despite the information and advocacy available in almost all media these days, there are still parents who thought that spanking their children to emphasize discipline is still beneficial. The benefits cited by those supporting spanking as acceptable method of discipline varied across culture and race. Generally, there are three views or positions about spanking as a form of discipline (Benject C. & Kazdin A, 2003) : Pro-corporal punishment, anti-corporal punishment, and conditional corporal punishment.
This issue of corporal punishment is a current issue that many people have on their minds. The issue strikes an emotional chord for many whom were or were not punished by spanking during their own childhoods. The issue generally focuses on the effect that spanking or other discipline methods will have on children. I will specifically be exploring the question: is it ever appropriate to spank a child? The cases for and against the spanking of young children are many and varied. But the main issue is the level of appropriateness that the act can reach.
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 first identified the determinants of spanking through a review of works on spanking. (Berline et al. 2009;). They found that gender of the children played a factor, which boys more likely to be spanked than girls. (4). They also found the age, experience, mental health, temperament, family background, and life experience of the mother to be major factors. (5). They also found race and socioeconomic status to be factors, with African-American children being more likely to be spanked at all ages and children in lower income families more likely to be spanked. (5).