Is Spanking Really Necessary?
...ng to them that spanking can lead to immediate restoration of authority as well as teaching to heed their words. After all, spanking has been around for ages and still exists. This leads one to think that if it is no good, why is it still so widely used? Often we result to spanking for two reasons: to change the behavior of the child, or to release anger or frustration (Fleming 5). Many parents have suffered from having a short fuse from time to time and this can lead to spanking instead of using another method of discipline. Parents often hit their children when they themselves are momentarily out of control. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, spanking happens at least once a week in twenty-five percent of middle-class two-parent families. Approximately eighty-five percent of the parents who spank their kids admit to feeling guilty about it later (Tobin 77). Most feel guilty afterward probably because they realized they acted out of anger and not out of reason. A big problem with new parents is that spanking is often the only method they know for discipline. If your mother spanked you every time you got out of line, it is likely that you will follow this pattern with your own kids. A preschool teacher hears some parents say: “My parents spanked me and I don’t think I turned out so bad.” To them she replies: “You’ve got it wrong. You turned out all right in spite of being spanked” (Brazelton 50). Parents must retain the authority role when dealing with children. When they feel that they have lost the authority or that it is being questioned, spanking is often used. But when it comes to gaining such things from your child, spanking discourages this. Think about it, if you were spanked growing up, how did you feel afterwards? Many kids automatically distance themselves from their parent as well as develop a heated anger towards them. Berry Brazelton, an M.D who wrote a book about discipline says, “[The child] may have trouble taking seriously the moral teachings of a parent who has hurt her”(49). Out of fear a child may respond quickly to a swift hand, but the child grows up resentful of a parent’s power. It is important that mom and dad realize that they must not become bullies to their children. The most important factor to look at is did the child learn the lesson? After all, we administrate spanking as a way to teach our children that what they just did was wrong. Child developmental specialist Claire Lerner said, “Spanking may stop behavior instantaneously, but chances are the kid will do it again because he hasn't learned anything. If he's been drawing on the wall, has he learned what to do with a crayon? No. He's learned that when people are angry, they hit. And parents almost always spank in anger“(Tharps). Lessons are almost never learned through spanking. If you look back on your own childhood spanking, do you remember what it was that you got spanked for? Most adults can account for the time they got spanked, but not why they did. The American ...