Physical Punishment - Spanking

There has always been a segment of our population who adhered to the “spare the rod, spoil the child” philosophy.  They contend that physical punishment teaches respect and obedience. I’m not talking about child abuse, I’m talking about spanking, slapping, shoving and grabbing as a means of punishing a child’s behavior. 32 nations have banned this kind of punishment, but it is legal in the United States and Canada. A study done in 2006 found that 48% of adults questioned reported a history of being subjected to some form of physical punishment without having been more seriously abused.

     Previous studies have found that children who receive physical punishment have higher levels of aggression, delinquency, poor emotional development, depression and alcohol abuse. In the latest issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the leading article is about a study of information on 34,653 adults that was collected between 2004 and 2005. The researchers took pains to exclude any behavior that would be considered child abuse and tried to only include what people would consider harsh physical punishment. They found that this physical punishment was associated with increased odds of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance abuse and personality disorders in the adults who had received the punishment as children.

     I’ve written a number of articles about how to discipline children and no one has ever felt I was “soft” on discipline. However, it is clear that there is never a reason for an adult to strike a child and that doing so can injure the child’s emotional well being for life. Using the rod spoils the child.