Essay On Spanking Children

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Parents may be teaching their children that violence is a solution to issues by implementing spanking to rectify inadequate behavior. Still to this day this has continued to be a relevant topic since improper parental methods have led to children developing harmful and traumatic characteristics. Having children is a serious decision that should not be made lightly. Being a parent guardian requires one to provide the finest care and protection for a child. Since the 18th century, corporal punishment has been a common form of child discipline, and for some parents, it is still an active strategy in their households. In fact, spanking is a method that is often passed down from generation to generation. Parents all throughout the world have adhered …show more content…

Pro-spanking parents tend to believe that the punishment promotes effective child socialization because it teaches the child what not to do. I definitely do feel empathy toward parents because it could be such a stressful and difficult role to take on, but as mentioned previously having a child should not be taken lightly. I feel as though maybe hitting a child is just a build up of that stress a parent has but I don’t agree that a parent's stress should be taken out on a young child. When finding sources through the Ebscohost database I found a periodical journal, “To Spank…or Not to Spank”, clinical social worker and associate professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore, Dr. Aminifu R. Harvey theorizes that “Spanking is about getting the child’s attention so they can have some fear of [reverence for] you. As the child matures, the fear turns into respect”(Giles). Dr. Aminifu R. Harvey points out that spanking is appropriate as long as the parent establishes love and trust. I kind of do see eye to eye with the idea since it is possible that a child could take that adrenaline of fear into respect as they grow older but I think this physical punishment result does not apply to each individual child. Every child is made with different emotions and personality, it’s not right to assume that …show more content…

Personally speaking, through my research discoveries I have resonated a lot with this issue. During my childhood I had a friend whose parents unfortunately did really incorporate corporal punishment as a tactic and looking back I could see in her character that she was never the same. As each playdate passed both I and my mother noticed her decreased in energy and she became very distant. At such a small age I was starting to realize that I could have been in her situation but my parents chose not to discipline me in that abusive sense. A very traumatic story is an American true crime documentary, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez reveals the horrible maltreatment that two parents committed to their eight year old son. I think this story is truly heartbreaking because there were so many people close to Gabriel that failed to help him, he had no voice, and throughout the physical abuse he continued to love his mother and step-father. Gabriel was a helpless child that received brutal abuse from his guardians that eventually caused his death. My question now after considering this documentary is when does corporal punishment escalate to physical abuse or