In my opinion, spanking should never be acceptable. No matter how out of control, or how disrespectful a child can be, they should never be put in that situation. Children should not have a fear of their parents but rather a large sense of respect and in my opinion that can be achieved in many other, non-aggressive ways.
I believe that spanking your child is taking the easy way out in parenting.Instead of getting your point across, you could be causing yourself and your child even more damage. Research done by the ‘anti-spanking movement’ has found that when spanking your child, you are teaching your child to be more aggressive and in conclusion is teaching them to hit others. Spanking is also shown to increase behavioral difficulties over time. Brooks states in our textbook that "children with warm and supportive mothers had fewer behavior problems." Spanking is teaching your children that violence is acceptable when you are angry or scared. Although I don’t believe that spanking is a good thing, research does show some benefits from spanking children. Despite the research, I still don’t believe that much good can come from violence. How can any parent feel good about what they have done after hitting their children. Instead of resolving an issue, it’s creating more of a problem. If it’s harmful emotionally for you as a parent, and emotionally and physically for the child, why would anyone do it? Spanking causes problems for the child’s sense of trust towards you as a parent and affects the parent/child relationship.
Our textbook, wrtten by Brooks, states that parents were more likly to hit their children when children were out of control, disobedient or disrespecful. In many situations, this is because that is how they were treated when they were children. They don't know any other source of punishment. The book also states that 85 percent of parents would rather not use spanking towards their children. Here are a few other punishments or ways to get your point across. 1) time outs 2)take away a favorite toy 3) tell them what they have done wrong and why it should never be done again. If your child feels that they are important and respected, you should begin to get nothing but respect in return. There are several parenting programs out there. If you as a parent don't feel that you know what the right thing to do is, get help and recieve other opinions.
I completely agree with you Lindsay! Respect is the utmost important thing when it comes to a parent/child relationship and I just don't see how a child is supposed to learn to respect their parents by getting spanked. It does cause the child to be more scared and not trusting more than anything else and I could see how spanking leads to kids hitting others. If another child does something that your child doesn't like and makes them mad, why wouldn't they hit them? That's what you're doing to them and since they learn by example, what would you expect from them?
ReplyDeleteI agree that spanking is used more often than necessary. However, just because your parents spank does not mean they are not warm to their children. A good, warm parent does not want to spank just like they do not want to scold their children. But kids act up sometimes and parents discipline them the way they think will be most effective. You note that there are some findings of positives that come out of spanking. The problem is not spanking itself, it's the parents that take it too far, too often, and abuse the act of it.
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