While physical punishment is widely used in the United States it has no sufficient positive effects on a child. Punishments are supposed to limit the undesirable behavior exhibited by a child. While physical punishment may stop the child from acting in an unpleasant manner momentarily the overall possible consequences are not worth it. The child now has a higher risk of modeling this physical approach with others. Modeling is the act in which someone observes and imitates a specific behavior. When physical punishment is used on a child it may prompt he/she to also be aggressive and hostile with others when in a conflict. This is because the child is copying their parents abusive behavior. The child instead of handling the situation in a calm and peaceful environment would rather try to exert power and strength with another child by hitting to show his/her importance on the matter. The reason for this is that the child has been exposed to this violent behavior when they are hit and it works because soon after he/she stops the undesired action. The child now believes that violence is the most effective way to show power and will try to punish others for not listening even if it's just a little conflict. There is also a possibility of the child being unaccepting of different opinions and becoming very confrontational when faced with these differences. This is because they are used to one authority always being right and not willing to compromise. The child like the parent
In modern society, physical discipline is still considered a somewhat suitable way of teaching children how to behave in life, though it is decreasing in popularity as time goes on. When using physical discipline, the parent should never have the intention of causing harm, they should always have the intention of being constructive. Whether or not physical discipline results in a beneficial outcome is dependent upon how it is used. If it is the only, or primary, source of discipline, the outcome is generally unfavorable. Also, as said in an article by Larzelere and Kuhn, if the discipline is too violent, and results in the child becoming injured, the child is not going to retain the intended lesson (1). An example of non-abusive physical discipline is conditional spanking. Conditional spanking "is defined as about two open-hand swats to the buttocks when a parent is not angrily out of control" (Larzelere, Kuhn 1). This type of punishment "teaches a child to cooperate with the milder disciplinary tactic, thereby making spanking less necessary in the future" (Larzelere, Kuhn 1) . When parents decide to use physical discipline, the primary intention of the parent should always be that the punishment is being "used in such a way that [it] reduces the need to use it in the future" (Larzelere, Kuhn 1). A parent should never hit a child
“Physical punishment of children: Can we continue to accept the status quo?” by Kim Oates is a scholarly source found in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. The author of this journal argues that discipline with physical punishment is not only inefficient, but it also causes problems in the emotional and behavioral development of children. He follows by providing practical forms of disciplining such as: removing privileges, teaching by example, having constant supervision, setting appropriate rules, and being consistent. Kim Oates states that those parents who use physical punishment to discipline their children, likely experienced it during their childhood and are usually unaware of these other methods of discipline. Oates included
Kids that grow in an environment surrounded by violence also become violent. If a kid sees his dad hitting his mom he/ she will thing that it is ok to hit others. And they will imitate that behavior. Parents who punch and yelled at their children are only setting up a pattern. And violence only brings more violence. Kids should grow in an environment where they are treated with respect and with love.
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.
Parents cite children’s aggression and failure to comply with a request as the most common reasons for hitting them. Children, endowed with wonderful flexibility and ability to learn, typically adapt to punishment faster than parents can escalate it, which helps encourage a little hitting to lead to a lot of hitting (Kazdin par 2). The negative effects on children include increased aggression and non-compliance the very misbehaviors that most often inspire parents to hit in the first place as well as poor quality of parent-child relationships (Kazdin par3). The direct experience of that momentary pause in misbehavior has a powerful effect, conditioning the parent to hit again next time to achieve the jolt of fleeing success (Kazdin par
To start off, as most of us have already know, social and cultural norms are one of the factor that influence in shaping one’s behavior, and one of them include the use of violence. The cultural norm, such one that encourage the use of violence as normal method of solving problem within families would be a risk factor of having the child likely to use violence once he or she grow up. According to Esposito, a psychotherapist, "Boys exposed to domestic violence may channel their feelings through aggressive acts such as fighting,
While effective in the schools, children who were corporally punished had a high tendency to become more aggressive after school Corporal punishment in a school was a teaching method that originated from european countries (5) The result of a cross-culture on 186 cultural groups was that the higher the amount of corporal punishment is used, the child will be more aggressive and prone to interpersonal violence The study also showed that the more frequent corporal punishment was, the more violent the person would be as an adult Over 90% of Canadian parents have admitted to using corporal punishment at least once A reason why corporal punishment is controversial is because the line between punishment and abuse is vague Another reason is because even if the punishment is not abusive it still has bad future effects
Child discipline is an important part of parenthood. It is challenging for adults to manage children’s behaviors and find the correct lessons that will benefit their children. According to the research performed by Flynn (1998), most parents in the United States agree that "it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a good, hard spanking" (p.26). Socolar et al. performed research which agreed that “corporal punishment of children persists—roughly fifty percent of the parents of toddlers in the United States use corporal punishment as a regular method of disciplining their children.” (as cited in Gershoff, 2010, p.32). That is not to say that physical punishment is the solution as it can stop a behavior immediately but the results
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.
To determine the weight of each side’s argument, This issue must be passed through the laws of ethics and morality. Ignoring the risks of violence that parenting can lead to, this method in the viewpoint of many is considered to be more efficient and has faster results. Physical punishments are deemed to be a firm way to show kids that they’re disobediences are not tolerated. This is believed to satisfy the parents desire for power by rooting a sense fear of the parents’ authority within the children. In many religions such as Islam hitting a child is acceptable within limits. These limits protect the child’s physical and mental safety, yet are still effective to teach the child a valuable life
One report shows that “physical punishment doesn’t improve children’s behavior in the long term.” Spanking your kids leads to many negative outcomes including mental health problems. There is even a greater risk for kids to have a serious injury when they are physically abused (“Discipline vs. Abuse”, 2016). Parents are likely to hit when they are angry. Being angry makes people go crazy. Parents could only mean to hit the kid a little, but end up really hurting the kid because they were angry.
Furthermore, some people believe there are no ramifications to physically punishing children. Punishing children in a physical way teaches them that any and all problems can be dealt with in a physical manner. This line of thinking can lead to violent altercations and violent thoughts. Children who are raised with parents who use corporal punishment are more likely to use corporal punishment on their children.
“If parents use negative forms of discipline (i.e., physical punishment), their children are more likely to use violence to resolve their own conflicts” (Parents' Use of Physical Punishment Increases Violent Behavior Among Youth).Which would result in a physical altercation with peers.
Children are like flowers, if well taken care of they will bloom. If ignored or tortured, they will wither and die. Child discipline is one of the most important elements of successful parenting. Today, many people have this notion that physical abuse is in no way a solution to helping children discern between right and wrong. Since generations children have been taught the art of discipline through physical punishment. Often this approach to disciplining has resulted in two outcomes, one is where the child becomes more tolerant and is willing to adhere to what he/she has been told, or the other which more often results in children developing a sense of anguish and desire to revolt.
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?”