Use of Corporal Punishment

When you look at some of the histories on corporal punishment it seems to never have a clear beginning and an end, that's because corporal punishment has been believed to have been around since the beginning of the human existence. In 1979, Sweden turned into the first nation to prohibit the physical punishment children, Today sixty countries, states, and territories have taken over a legislation that completely bans using corporal punishment against children at home some of these places are: Peru, Poland, Portugal, and Germany. While in the United States corporal punishment to a child in a home setting is still lawful in all states, many experts and parents still debate whether corporal punishment discipline should still be practiced. All around, about 1.1 billion guardians see physical discipline as important to legitimately bring up or instruct a child. All of this information brought me to the question, why are healthy discipline strategies better than corporal punishment?

This article discusses corporal punishment at home, corporal punishment is used with the intention to correct a child. The authors Emily Cuddy and Richard V. Reeves decide to start off their article by mentioning Adrian Peterson who is the Minnesota Vikings running back that was charged with hitting his son on September 2014, he was mentioned because this news sparked interest in people with different opinions. According to the authors more than 70% of Americans agreed in 2012 that it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a good, hard spanking(Emily, Richard, paragraph 1). The authors also indicate that some studies have found that children who are spanked frequently are at higher risk of developing mental health problems, distant parent-child relationships, aggressive behavior,  and can also decrease their cognitive ability. Some of the mental health problems a child can later on develop are depression and anxiety and alcohol and drug abuse.  Guardians typically utilize corporal punishment to quickly end a terrible conduct yet examine has demonstrated that kids will figure out how to connect brutality with power or getting one's own way. To conclude the authors write that they believe the U.S. will slowly shift towards not using corporal punishment.

I found an interesting post on legacy stories of a man named Charles William Spratt and in this post he tells his story of the corporal punishment he received from his parents. He said that if his teacher called his mother before he would get home and told his mother that she had to give him a spanking at school, as soon as he would get home he would receive another spanking from his mother and if he yelled to loud his mother would tell him don't tell the neighbors about it, after his mother was through with spanking him she told him just wait until your father gets home and when his father arrived he spanked him too. He and his family moved to a new town when he was 14 years old. One day his mother asked him nicely to take out the trash and he pushed her back and said I don't have to mind you; you b_ _ _ _ !!!, and his mother was sweeping the floor with a broom and without a second thought she began hitting him in the head with the broom. When he got older he moved away 500 miles away but when he would go visit her he said he would ask her do you want me to take out the trash?. What I find to be the most interesting part of his post is when he says, Whatever happened to corporal punishment in today's world?. In the research that is somewhere, in the beginning, it was mentioned that children who receive corporal punishment from their parents are at risk of having distant parent-child relationships just like in Charles William Spratt's story when he decided to move 500 miles away.

When he pushed his mother back and said I don't have to mind you; you b_ _ _ _ !!!, he was being verbally and physically aggressive just like in the research it says that when a parent uses corporal punishment the child is at high risk to develop aggressive behavior. Even after his own experience with corporal punishment the last thing he said: Whatever happened to corporal punishment in today's world? , leads to believe that he truly believes that it was something beneficial and that corporal punishment should definitely be the option to discipline your child in today's world. What I have noticed from people that I personally know is that corporal punishment tends to be a cycle and what I mean by this is that a child who is disciplined with this type of punishment will grow up he/she will have kids of their own and then they will use this type of discipline with their own children and when those kids grow up and have kids of their own they will also use this discipline and it just continues on like this throughout the family tree expansion and I want to believe that its possible to break out of that cycle that seems to just continue on forever throughout our history.

In the article titled 10 Healthy Discipline Strategies That Work, gives parents suggestions on how to discipline their children and unlike corporal punishment, these type of discipline strategies are proven to work for the long run without having to hurt a child. The first suggestion they make is to instruct kids appropriately from amiss with quiet words and activities. Display practices you might want to find in your kids. Have clear and reliable principles your kids can pursue. Make certain to clarify these standards in age-proper terms they can get it. Tranquility and immovably clarify the outcomes on the of chance that they don't act. For instance, reveal to her that on the off chance that she doesn't get her toys, you will put them away for whatever is left of the day. Be set up to finish immediately. Try not to give in by giving them back following a couple of minutes. Be that as it may, recall, never remove something your kid genuinely needs, for example, a dinner. I believe these are great examples on how a parent can discipline their child because a parent who does this is taking the time to explain why certain actions are not right, you get to be a good role model for your child. Another good suggestion that was used in the article is that kids need to know when they accomplish something awful - and when they accomplish something great. Notice great conduct and call attention to it, adulating achievement and great attempts. Be explicit (for instance, "Amazing, you worked superbly putting that toy away!). This works because when you point out something good that they are doing they will do more to keep getting the same reaction.

In conclusion, there are many ways you can teach a child right from wrong without having to use corporal punishment, like displaying principles you might want to find in your child and by noticing good conduct and calling attention to it, adulating achievement and great attempts.

Cite this page