In class this week we are continuing our look at learning and guidance for young children, with a specific focus on discipline and the use of punishment as a tactic.
We've discussed our attitudes about spanking as a discipline practice, and motivations for why some (many) parents continue to use the practice, even on an occasional basis. And those who do, generally do have a variety of discipline practices. There is division however, about the value and effectiveness of spanking for helping children learn the limits that are valuable for their self-regulation and socialization. And questions about the impacts on the relationship with the parent and what else children learn from being spanked (fear? avoiding punishment rather than problem solving? the promotion of use of physical force and acceptance of violence as a resolution?).
And there are questions about the practice when it is nearly exclusively used by parents (adults with larger bodies, brains and strength) with small children (as in small bodies and brains). As a power assertive technique toward discipline, there is the very real potential that it can escalate to something more than getting the child's attention or reminding a child that the parent disagrees with the behavior (Exhibit A: Adrian Peterson). There is the possibility when adrenaline flows and strikes come with more force, that a child can be injured, and can suffer from abuse. And when it gets to that level, as we know from our discussion about toxic stress and the brain, that child most certainly isn't learning much about the actual problem that started the whole situation.
These questions have led to policy movements in the US toward enacting laws around spanking. Other countries outside the US do have policies that prohibit spanking or physically striking a child. Not so much in the US. Primarily our policies step in when a child has been injured or abused. Spanking is permissible but only to the point that it is used 'reasonably'.
Please see the following short article from Time magazine in 2014: http://time.com/3379862/child-abuse/. It lays out some of the efforts that states have made toward passing legislation, and the barriers. Based on our discussion of attitudes in class, this shouldn't be too surprising.
Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on this? Do you believe that we should have anti-spanking laws in the US? If so, should they be within states or would it be federal? How might these be enacted, and what definitions would be in place. Does your personal history or current experience inform your view?
At the heart of this, do you feel that parents know what is 'reasonable' in the degree to which they use of physical punishment like spanking? If going to the extreme of legislation isn't necessary in your view, then what would you advocate for, so that parents employ strategies for teaching their children (especially young children) limits that are effective in the short and long term, that teach children prosocial and constructive lessons, and that maintain the quality of the parent-child relationship?
The topic of spanking is clearly a multilayered issue. It is important to balance the safety and well being of the children with the parental and individual rights of parents. After careful consideration of this topic, I believe some legislation is necessary. I would have preferred to keep the law out of it, however too many cases of "discipline" have resulted in child abuse, or at the very least the exact same effects on children as physical abuse. Many children who experienced spanking as a child still have fear, problems with self esteem, and struggle with needing external consequences for their behavior. I found this article useful https://drive.google.com/a/umn.edu/file/d/0ByT_1xjpolcOeTJVbi1ULUxEcGM/view?usp=sharing as it explains possible outcomes of spanking through meta-analysis.
ReplyDeleteMost importantly, regardless of whether some spanking is "ok" or not harmful to some children, I believe that for the children that it is harmful, we owe them accountability. I believe that passing careful legislation could help this. It would still technically be the parent's choice to use physical punishment but if the child feels the treatment is abusive, having a law in place allows the child to raise these concerns to someone.
As cited in the New York Times article, corporal punishment becomes abusive once there is a "mark" on a child, or once the child receives "substantial" harm. I think that is a useless way to classify abuse because who determines what is "substantial"? Most often it would be lawyers and judges, neither of whom were in the room and witnessed the child receiving the hit. It seems to me the only fair judge is the child, and yet their words usually do not carry as much weight as their parents. If an abusive parent decides they are not causing "substantial" harm to their child, and they can convince other adults of this based on the lack of "marks" on their child, they may have easily gotten away with genuine abuse. Abusers are often smart and wonderful manipulators, it seems to me that having this grey area in the law allows for enough room for abusers to abuse without consequence, so long as they don't "cross the line".
Overall, I am not exactly sure of what law is necessary, though I believe it is important legislation to consider. I think the desire not to step on parent's rights or comfort is much less important than the well-being and safety of children. In a world in which some parent's abuse this freedom and cause major harm, even if it is "just" psychological, children deserve some legal protection and avenue for self advocacy.
Spanking is a topic that I feel torn about when it comes to talking about legislation. Although I do not believe that spanking is a correct way of discipline based on a variety of reasons discussed in class, I also do not feel like it should be controlled by the government because of the fact that it would not be effectively enforced or regulated due to the fact that spanking is widely practiced in the privacy of a household and as Professor Walker mentioned during class, the percentages that we talked about on the different charts were only statistically the families that ADMITTED to using spanking often or occasionally. Some parents could have been too ashamed to admit to a researcher that they do use spanking because of the wide negative view that the nation has casted on the use of spanking as a way of discipline. Nonetheless, I do not believe that government should be in control inside of private households due to the poor enforcement of said legislation behind closed doors, but I also do not believe that it is correct to use spanking as a disciplinary approach with small children. I would want to say that more parent education courses should make the harmful consequences of spanking for children more well known, but then that also poses backlash from other citizens due to the government funding that would have to go into forming a governmental program, which then leads again to the issue of government becoming too involved in the private households.
ReplyDeleteEven if there is no change in legislation for the use of spanking for discipline, it is still interesting that there are state laws such as Delaware and Oklahoma, as noted in the TIME magazine article, that do explicitly state was is allowed or where there is a line that crosses into child abuse. Delaware's law of no striking a young child with a closed fist and other state's like Alabama with legislation that states that parents can strike there child, but only with appropriate and reasonable force, are almost awful to have to read. Those descriptions are so subjective that there is no wonder why this is such a controversial issue and why the Adrain Peterson case was such a big deal that I can remember seeing headlines for it in the Houston Chronicle, where I was living during the time of this national news worthy case.
Being a passionate advocate against the use of spanking is hard when I am considering my personal experiences and history because I do not believe that legislation would be successfully enforced behind closed doors, but it is also awful that there is currently specific legislation that draws a line of when spanking goes to child abuse. Maybe instead of enacting legislation against the use of spanking, the government could advocate for awareness of the harmful, research-supported consequences of the use of spanking and then on a federal level, constitute spanking as child abuse in all 50 states. Although you couldn't do it all in one day, maybe eventually children will no longer deal with spanking from their parents as a form of discipline and in turn it will be just a known fact that you do not strike your children in any way, similar to how it is known that you do not hit your grandparents as a way of discipline or how domestic violence is a really big issue that has increasing awareness across the United States.
During my college experience, I have done a lot of research on corporal punishment. Due to the knowledge I have gained, I believe spanking is not a good parenting tool. Parent's should use warmer methods of discipline (Time-outs, limiting activities, etc.) to help their child gain awareness of what they have done wrong, and accompany this with love and acceptance. Lots of research proves that spanking is ineffective and may only works in the moment. Studies have shown that spanking can actually pose negative developmental effects on the child. Spanking in the long-run can be very bad for the child's development for many reasons. For example, a parent who only uses spanking as a mean of discipline isn't teaching the child any regulation skills. In fact, spanking has been found to teach aggression in developing children.
DeleteBased on my own experience, I was spanked very little as a child, but I always knew my parents meant business when they threatened its use (Which they rarely had to). Surprisingly, I don't think the spanking negatively impacted my development at all, but actually made me more compliant to my parents orders. Based on this experience I have always been in debate of whether or not spanking is an appropriate use of child discipline.
As I mentioned earlier, I don't believe spanking should be used because I believe there are other forms of discipline a parent can use that won't hinder child's development.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's very surprising to me that so many other countries have laws against spanking, and corporal punishment in general, but the US says nothing on spanking. This is a little upsetting to me because while I feel as though there are many parents out there who are pro-spanking in "certain situations" and they do so without causing physical pain or harm to the child, there are equally as many unequipped parents out there who hit too hard or allow the situation to escalate over time to the point of abuse. I think that it is necessary to have some type of spanking policies if only to allow some kind of legal action to be taken in the event of intense psychological issues from being spanked as a child.
ReplyDeleteI am very much aware that spanking often occurs in the privacy of a family's home and therefore it would be difficult to enforce any type of spanking law. However, I would feel better knowing that there were laws in place in the event that an injury occurs and legal action could be taken against that 'caregiver'. The fact that most spanking happens in privacy so the laws may not be so enforced, might be reassuring to those parents who are against spanking laws and feel as though they use spanking 'effectively'. However, in the event that a child is either physically or emotionally hurt from spanking, it would be great if we had some type of law to use against the 'spanker'.
Personally, in any case, I feel as though spanking is never the right way to discipline a child. I don't think that any sort of violence is ever an effective way to solve a problem, especially in the case of teaching a young and small child a lesson.
In my personal opinion I think that we should have anti-spanking laws in the United States. As a progressive nation I believe we are a little behind the curve on this issue to begin with. So my other countries have developed rules and regulations on this topic, and for good reason. I think a good compromise would be to introduce it on a state level instead of a federal level. That way each state could introduce the degree of punishment for parents spanking their kids as they see fit. I know that discipline practices and norms can vary a lot in the United States depending on the region. For example North versus South regions. The southern United States generally condone more forms of physical punishment than in other areas.
ReplyDeleteI was never spanked as a child. I found it the studies that we looked at in class to be very interesting. One predicted that parents who had experienced spanking were more likely to include spanking in their own parenting style. Both of my parents received varying degrees of physical punishment as children, but they had the opposite effect. Both remembered this form of punishment as somewhat traumatic and decided not to include that in their parenting style. I think that there are equally, if not more effective parenting techniques that can used in place of spanking. However, I know that there are many people that would disagree with me. It is still such a highly used form of discipline in the United States, so I wonder if at this time if enacting a law against it would even be feasible. However, if not now, I think that we should work towards for the future.
As was mentioned in class, why has domestic violence been considered something that goes on behind closed doors that is the government's problem, but spanking, also something that occurs in "the privacy of one's home" is not? This is a very difficult question, and as a country we will probably never reach an answer that everyone agreed on. For me personally, my answer is that there is a clear line between spanking for discipline and direction, and spanking that is abuse. My boyfriend's family, who I am very close with and spend a lot of time around, all practice spanking (his parents did and his 6 older siblings do, at least the ones who are parents). Before interacting with this family, I was against spanking. I couldn't understand it because I had never experienced it. But, I see the way that the parents practice it and it is very different from my original perception. They do not do it in moments of anger, frustration and high emotions, but always do it calmly, without raising their voice, and put the emphasis on the behavior and not the child. They nearly always follow up with the child about what was wrong with the behavior, so that there is understanding, and not just discipline. The process is also very structured. I don't see spanking used much at all beyond toddler-aged children, which to me makes sense because toddlers cannot always understand more complex forms of discipline, but know what pain is. It is a very simple way to understand that what they did was wrong: "I keep doing A, and that always results in B (spanking), which I don't like". These children, as they grow beyond toddlerhood, are some of the best behaved, smart, energetic and happy kids I have ever met. They are respectful beyond their years. Of course, this may be attributed to other parenting or discipline practices but I have never been under the impression that spanking has had any horrible lasting effects on them as older children, and later adults. Essentially, my impression is that it is a form of conditioning for those younger ages. I also think it is important to establish authority (of course healthy authority) of a parent over a child, so that when they grow older there is a base layer of respect for their parents. This form of spanking I have experienced is very different from abusive spanking, where the parent is hitting their child uncontrollaby, and in uncontrolled circumstances, while yelling and clearly in a heightened emotional state. The difference in the parents state of mind and INTENT in spanking draws the line between acceptable and unacceptable spanking for me. None of the parents I know who spank have ever expressed any level of joy or satisfaction in spanking, they just believe it to be an effective form of discipline for their toddlers. I also think that hitting a child anywhere beyond the "fleshy part of their bottom" so to speak is absolutely unacceptable. So, I think that if there is policy changes around spanking, it should be in the definition of which of these types of spanking is ok, and to make the abusive type part of the definition of child abuse. I do think that parents should have the right to keep the first type of spanking in their toolbox. As with I'm sure anyone else, my personal experience certainly influences my view.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, I was never spanked. Because of my childhood past, I believe that it isn’t something necessary for parents to do. I am still open to the idea of spanking but believe that it has to be done if that is the only way to get a child to behave, which I feel should be for extremely rare situations. I also believe that it has to be done in a way that is loving and not out of anger. It can be easy to hit out of anger and sometimes a parent can hit too hard if they are not careful. One thing that I found to be really interesting is how states can have different laws about spanking. The article talked about how Delaware’s law forbids a parent from hitting a child with a closed fist. On the other hand, Oklahoma did not have this as a law. If there are laws against spanking, I think it needs to be consistent across states and we as a country need to agree on one approach. Spanking can be a good thing, but it should only be used as the last resort and shouldn’t be used as a way to take the easy way out. The article also talked about how some states say that parents can use “reasonable and appropriate physical force.” How much force is considered reasonable and appropriate? The problem that I have with this idea is that what one parents sees as reasonable could be the complete opposite of what another person thinks. These laws should be changed so that people can know what is right and what is wrong. Lastly, when a parent spanks a kid, they need to pay attention to the parent child relationship. I learned in this class how important relationships are for the development of children. If a child lives in fear of his parents because of how much they spank, it can damage the relationship and cause many problems.
ReplyDeleteFrom my personal experience of being spanked as a child, which sometimes led to a mark on my body because of the amount of force used by my parent, I argue that there should be U.S laws against spanking. These laws should be federal so that each state doesn't have different laws for spanking and all parents are clear on the expectations/laws against spanking. We should not wait for abuse to happen to a child, parents are currently not being held accountable for hitting their children but instead are being held accountable on how "hard" they hit their children. Many parents don’t feel that they are abusing their children when they spank, but from personal experience every time I was spanked I felt abused and unloved. Afterwards, I couldn’t even remember think about the behavior that I had engaged in that caused me to get spanked was left feeling resentful. In addition, how can we expect young children to fend for themselves? Often when I was hit hard, my parent didn’t mean to hurt me and then my parent apologized for hitting me too hard. This example shows that parents can get carried away by their emotions and might actually hit their children harder than they meant too. We need laws in place so that we can prevent spanking because spanking is not the most effective way for children to learn and it might cause unintentional consequences in children. Parents should acquire various tools for their toolbox, so that when their children misbehave they don’t resort to only spanking. A more proactive strategy would allow children learn to problem solve and handle conflict without aggression.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, the laws could be enacted by parent educators and hospitals. For example: when parents have their first child, they could receive a pamphlet stating the laws against spanking in the U.S. This could give parents an opportunity to engage in a discussion/ask questions to medical personnel before leaving the hospital. Courts/law enforcement would also have to hold parents accountable for spanking their children. For example, parents could receive two warnings and after the third time they would either have to attend a parent education course or be fined. In order to take away from confusion the definition for spanking would be: engaging in any form of spanking for any reasons would be prohibited and parents would be held accountable. I believe that we can change our attitudes about spanking- it is not necessary and we must be willing to change the spanking culture in our current society.
I'm not sure what I think about of anti-spanking laws in the US. I'm sure there are people who agree and disagree with having anti-spanking laws, but I'm not quite sure where I stand. On one hand, I disagree with spanking and would never do it to my child. On the other hand, some parents use it as a discipline style and are not abusive. I'm sure that parents would still spank their children even with anti-spanking laws... If it were to be illegal, though, kids would feel a lot safer and parents would be less inclined to spank. But I wonder, how would parents be punished if these laws were put in place? If they were caught spanking in public, would their child get taken away?
ReplyDeleteIf anti-spanking laws were put in place, I think that the laws should be statewide. The federal government most likely would never pass an anti-spanking law because so many people would think that interferes with their parenting styles. These laws within states would be enacted by having warnings to parents if they are caught spanking and maybe requiring parenting education classes. This is not a harsh punishment and does better for the family than breaking the family apart.
I think that most parents know what is 'reasonable' in the degree when they use spanking as a form of punishment... But at the same time I know that it is not necessary with other good parenting methods. Since I don't exactly agree that spanking should be outlawed, I think free parent-child education classes should be offered. I also think ECFE classes should be required to teach parents not to spank, and states should pass laws that ban teachers from spanking or hitting in schools.
While reading the short article, I caught myself giving a look of confusion to my computer. Everyone has different definitions of what "reasonable and appropriate physical force" is. Different children learn and understand at different rates than other children and therefore you can not assume that every child can have the same definition of "appropriate physical force." I strongly disagree with spanking, this may be because my siblings and I were never spanked as children, but I personally believe that either way I would be against spanking. We discussed in class that not all undesirable behavior is misbehavior and I agree with this. Children are just born curious and at such a young age they aren't able to control their impulses.
ReplyDeleteI think there should definitely be an anti-spanking law in place. I know many people would not appreciate as they would feel they are being told how to parent, but to some extent people need to be taught how to parent. Many parents didn't grow up with a secure attachment to their parents and don't know how to properly develop a secure attachment with their child. Children can hardly comprehend the difference between right and wrong until middle childhood, let alone comprehend why they are being hit or spanked.
Corporal punishment to this day still remains a common and controversial parenting practice in the United States. Whether spanking teaches respect and quick compliance, or causes future developmental harm is still a major argument in society. For parents, comprehending whether corporal punishment is beneficial or harmful to a child’s development can be quite confusing due to the many conflicting arguments associated with corporal punishment. For instance, research has been conducted on the positive impacts of corporal punishment. In some cases, corporal punishment can be interpreted as a quick useful tool for punishment (Larzelere, 2011). For illustration, if a child runs into a busy street after disobeying their parents, a parent might spank their child to get the point across quickly and firmly that this behavior is not safe. Though spanking might seem useful, but in fact there are more negatives associated with the use of corporal punishment. Parents should first do everything in their power to be as gentle and caring first before resorting to spanking. Parental warmth is related to healthier child growth and stronger parent child bonds. The use of spanking was associated with poor psychological damage, anxiety, aggressive behavior, future substance problems, and acts of crime in later years (Lansford, 2014). With scientific outcomes such as these, one would reason that spanking is a form of viciousness and should be removed from child rearing altogether. Many child psychologists recommend the use of alternate tactics such as verbal warnings, time-outs, authoritative styles, and taking away privileges (Lansford, 2014). These positive forms of punishment have been found to show a greater association with healthier childhood development (Lansford, 2014).
ReplyDeleteMuch like Lydia above ^ , I am super torn with the spanking stuff. I was spanked very hard as a child by my biological family and i promised myself to never spank my children because of what i went through. At the same time, what they did was way way way overboard and i know parents do this to get compliance and immediate change. I know most parents won't go to that extreme but i also know some parents do. What i find interesting is all my black friends i talk to say they got whooped like i did.. which i find really interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo in conclusion i am still torn about Anti-spank laws but beating children for compliance is an absolute no no
I think that we should have anti-spanking laws. From all that we talked about in class, there are really no positives that come out of spanking only negatives. I think that as a progressive country such as the United States, we should be moving forward and moving away from having to spank children. There was a time that children were hit with switches and it wasn't unacceptable during that time but today we wouldn't imagine doing that to our child. Spanking has already become less prevalent today than it has in the past. I think decades from now we will look back and even wonder why we thought that spanking was ok. What makes spanking not as bad as beating children? I believe that all violent acts toward children need to be outlawed.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I do not think that anti-spanking laws should be implemented in the U.S. Every child responds differently to different kinds of discipline-- if a parent feels their child would benefit most from spanking, then that is entirely up to them. While research shows there is no concrete definition of "reasonable" and that is can be very easy to cross a line and hit a child when your angry, it also shows that spanking can be very effective when the parent in calm and collected. I was spanked as I child and I feel like I experienced both sides of this. There were times when my parents (usually my mom) would calmly explain to me why I was being hit and do so in a collected manner. However, more times than not my parents usually spanked me and my siblings when they were angry and fueled with adrenaline. This definitely created a sense of fear for me, but I don't think it stopped me from learning good and bad behavior. Maybe they crossed a line, but only a little bit. Because I am not an advocate for formal legislation on this matter, I would definitely encourage all parents to take classes on effective discipline techniques. Parent classes could educate future caregivers on the pros and cons of not only spanking, but other methods as well. Hopefully this would encourage safer environments with more effective discipline.
ReplyDeleteI have never been in support of spanking and corporal punishment as a means of discipline for children. Extensive evidence supports the idea that physical punishment is extremely maladaptive for children, especially in the long-term. Thus, if it were possible, I believe that laws that prohibit corporal punishment would be extremely beneficial for overall child development. With that being said, there are many blurred lines and grey areas within our current legislation and within current state laws which make it very difficult for new laws to be enacted, all the while leaving constitutional rights (i.e. the right the parent/raise your child in any way you choose) in tact. Additionally, just because a law prohibiting corporal punishment is enacted, does not necessarily mean that that law will be followed. Thus, I think before we change the law, an emphasis should be placed on parent and societal education about the dangers associated with physical discipline on child development. This gives parents the opportunity to make an educated choice on which disciplinary method they choose to use with their children. Additionally, I think that a new, general federal law that clarifies the boundaries within which parents need to stay with regards to corporal punishment would be beneficial, so that parents can have a greater understanding of what is a reasonable degree of punishment. Taking all of the above into consideration, if we lived in a utopian world, I would definitely be in support of laws prohibiting the use of corporal punishment on children.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of spanking is sort of a conflict for me. On one hand, growing up when I was spanked it was a terrible experience in my mind. It was always my dad and he only did it when he was extremely angry and at that point he was really awful at controlling his emotions so the more angry he was the more it hurt. So I know that there are a great deal of people who resort to spanking as a last choice but in that case don't have the control over their emotions to make it not dangerous for their children. On the other hand I'm sure there are parents out there who are more educated on the effects of spanking and have a great control over their emotions and how they react to their children when they decide to use spanking. Overall though I believe that spanking more often than not is maladaptive for kids and should be avoided as a method of punishment.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised how many other countries have laws prohibiting corporal punishment and we don't have one that addresses spanking. I think that would be a good law to have, I would be in favor of it but I feel like there would be a few issues with it coming into play. The first struggle would be defining what is okay and what isn't. Without a clear guideline there may be too many cases being brought to light that don't qualify as corporal punishment. The other issue would be maintaining the law, I think if it was a federal law too many people and situations that are using corporal punishment will be missed, but if left up to each state not all the states will have the same law, and there could be some gray area which could cause confusion between state lines. Also, how will this law play into the social services system? Will there just be warnings? Or will this require children being placed away from their parents? Is the budget capable of handling the influx of cases that will probably going through this. And if they can't handle the new cases, is it even worth it because most of them are not being addressed?
I believe that while there shouldn't be laws down to the minute of what constitutes spanking and how often and so forth, I do believe there should be policies in place or at least programs that work with parents to teach them how to discipline their children. I believe that strict laws are unnecessary because it would be difficult to monitor parents to determine if they were staying within the set limits. However, if parents were to know that there are other, more affective methods of discipline available to them, they would be less likely to incorporate spanking in their toolbox. These opinions definitely comes from my own experience; I wasn't negatively affected by it myself, but I don't think that it was an effective preventative measure either. I just knew that I didn't want my parents to catch me/find out if I didn't do something they didn't agree with. On the other hand, when I sat me down and reasoned with me, letting me know why they didn't want me doing something, then I was less likely to do it. Therefore, I think that if a child isn't old enough to be reasoned with, then you definitely shouldn't be spanking them. Employing other methods such as time out and revoking of treats/playtime are also affective ways of disciplining your child; if free or subsidized governmental programs could be put into place to teach these methods, through workshops, at home visits, or free training materials, parents would definitely be less likely to turn to this seemingly easier method of punishment.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I do not feel as though anti-spanking laws would be beneficial on either a state or federal level as it would be reasonably difficult to enforce. Given the privacy of space that this form of punishment typically occurs in, it would be challenging to monitor. Instead, I believe it would be more effective and helpful for programs and initiatives to be funded for parents to be made aware of the other alternatives they have to punishment. What would say would be challenging about this approach however, is in what ways could it be incorporated successfully in communities, such as the African-American community, where the practice of spanking is more so tradition and cultural practice than it is a lack of awareness. For this I would advocate educating parents (whether you personally agree with the practice of spanking or not) the ways in which the punishment can be used in a way that's LEAST damaging and detrimental to the child as it isn't something (from my experience as a young, black male) that is often taken into consideration... *flashback of memories when mom would make us pick a switch*... from MY experience, more often than not, anything within reach was within means of my mother's arsenal and any spot on the body (with the exception of anywhere above the shoulders) was target for whatever amount of force was deemed applicable with notion of what sort of trouble we were in. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIcBGDVPxn8--see clip for re-enactment).
ReplyDelete