Topic > Arguments against corporal punishment: why spanking is not a good idea

When we talk about physical punishment in children, we usually attribute it to a compassionate corrective whose intent is to modify the child's behavior but in a non-harmful way way. However, the nature of the punishment proves otherwise. Before moving forward, it is important to take into consideration that any act that involves hitting with open hands such as blows on the hands, buttocks, being slapped, pinched, groped, whipped, being restrained to swallow substances, being hit with objects of any kind, hits to the feet, arms, back, and knees are general examples of physical punishment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Traditions have always influenced the way parents raise their children throughout time. Spanking, which is another form of physical punishment, is still popular. Much of the population in many countries, especially this one, bases their discipline on corporal punishment. Because people were raised this way, they have “normalized” the action. According to Muzafer Sherif (1936), considered one of the founders of social psychology, “normalization is a process of mutual influence that occurs when there is no frame of reference available to express a judgment or act in a certain way”. So, people approve and repeat what they were taught because that was the only reference they had. This is why traditions are a big drawback in terms of distinguishing whether the action is harmful or not. Ineffective problem solving, lack of communication and failure to define rules of behavior from the beginning are some of the causes that lead parents to spank their children. Bad behavior is directly tailored to what the parent expects of the child. It becomes unjustified to scold a child for something that was not clearly explained or if the request was not physically possible for the child given the child's age or experience. Usually, when parents resort to corporal punishment, they are under the influence of a negative emotion, so their actions are impulsive. Tired parents are more likely to seek quick results rather than assertive ones. If they were aware of the harm behind their methods, they would probably think twice before harming a child. Nowadays, most doctors do not support physical punishment. According to an article in the New York Times (2018) “A survey of 1,500 pediatricians in the United States this year found that 74% of them disapproved of spanking and 78% thought spanking never improved children's behavior children". Physical punishment is not an effective strategy for teaching right from wrong because it does not teach a positive substitution that will lead the child to repeat the problematic one. It distracts the child from learning to resolve a conflict assertively. In addition to being useless from an educational point of view, corporal punishment has terrible long-term repercussions. A 2009 study showed that being hit by objects at least 12 times a year over a three-year period produced less gray matter in children's brains. Minimizing the number of parents who beat their children can also reduce the rate of mental illness and disorder in the general population. When parents spank their children, it sometimes interferes with the bond they create as a family. Parents should aspire to maintain a strong bond based on mutual feelings of love and respect. If trust is lacking, the child will never do the will of his parents