Spanking as punishment: parents are allowed to use corporal punishment as long as it does not leave injuries (starting with marks of any kind). Do you agree with this? If not what punishments should be put in place
Spanking as a Form of Punishment
Corporal punishment (CP) is implied as “the usage of physical force with the intention of causing a child pain to correct or control his or her behavior”.
There’s always a question whether spanking injures children’s psychology or it’s a normal way to punish them for misbehavior. After all, a lot of people who are parents now were spanked as kinds and they do not have obvious problems being grownups. Besides, a lot of parent consider that way as the only one to make their children listen to them and behave the way they want kids to. But a lot of researches on that question were focused on a thesis that such a punishment can cause mental problems. There’re a lot of studies that take a look at the possible link between mental health disorders and harsh physical punishment. These findings can probably persuade parents not to spank kids at all.
Some researches insist on always taking into account that physical punishment like slapping, hitting, pushing or shoving is always followed by mood disorders, anxiety, and substance abuse or personality disorders. So, it’s recommended to use other ways of punishments to control children behavior. These researches also prove that those children, who were spanked, are at a higher risk to use alcohol, drugs, hit their own children or be involved in criminal or violent behavior.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Pediatric Society discourage spanking and other forms of physical punishment. It’s also forbidden to use physical punishment against children in more than 32 countries. Instead of spanking or hitting children positive parenting strategies should be used to bring up kids. Examples of which could be: using time-outs, withholding privileges, offering consequences etc. That will show kids that they are treated as individuals, avoiding usage of physical force and controlling and correcting their behavior gently at the same time.
Reference
Dr. Jennifer Shu, 2 Juky 2012, “Can spanking cause mental illness?” [online],
Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/02/health/shu-spanking-mental-illness/index. html" http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/02/health/shu-spanking-mental-illness/index.h …