Corporal Punishment and Its Effects on Children - Essay Example

April 25th Corporal punishment entails the use of physical force to cause pain and not necessarily a wound as a means of disciplining a child. Corporal punishment come in various ways such as spanking, slapping, and even spanking are some of the forms of corporal punishment. Use of corporal punishment to discipline a child is a wrong way of punishing a child because there are other effective ways of punishing a child. Use of corporal punishment is rooted in the society we live in passing the trend from one generation to another. Therefore, it is ethical to try to put an end to corporal punishment to the children because this means of punishment relies heavily on fear, submissiveness and makes a child’s capacity to grow up being autonomous and responsible to go down. How Corporal Punishment is wrong There are many reasons why corporal punishment is not acceptable in disciplining a child. Nowadays, beating children with the intention of disciplining them is increasingly viewed as outdated, pointless and detrimental (Myers 168). This practice should not be discouraged because of various reasons; one being that corporal punishment is unacceptable because a child who is hit will become a hitter himself/herself. The extensive research done indicate and support presence of a correlation between corporal punishment in children, and their aggressiveness or having violent behaviors during their teenage and even adult years. Most criminals who are dangerous were often threatened and punished in their childhood age. Children learn their behaviors and attitudes from observing and imitating their parents’ actions, both for good or ill; thus, it is the parents’ responsibility to set an excellent example in terms of empathy and wisdom. Children, in many cases, are punished with the excuse of having lousy behaviors. Mostly, the child is only responding to the said situation in the only way he can, given his age and experience. A part from having the basic needs such as sleep, nutrition and exercise, the child’s greatest need is to have its parent’s undivided attention. Majority of children currently receive less attention from their parents because parents are usually distracted by their own problems; thus, they are unable to treat their children with lots of patience and empathy. Such parents will punish their child unfairly when it responds naturally to ways of having various needs that are neglected. This way punishment becomes ineffective and unjust to the child. A child who is corporal punished will not be able to learn how to solve conflicts effectively in a humane way. When a child is hit, he becomes afraid and stops learning dead in its tracks. The child will be preoccupied with a feeling of anger and fantasies of having to revenge over it. This deprives the child an opportunity of learning effective methods to use to solve a problem that may be at hand. The child will have little in mind on how to handle and prevent such situations in life. Sometimes parents embrace the phrase “Spare the rod and spoil the child” which does not come from the bible but from a poem that was written in the 17th Century. This phrase was written with an aim of exposing and denouncing violence against children, and ironically, it is now used to as a justification for corporal punishment against children. The bond present between parents and child usually disappears, when corporal punishment is embraced. This is because it is inhuman to feel love towards someone who hurts another. Therefore, corporal punishment kills the spirit of cooperation that most parents desire to have with their children. This can only be present if they have a bond that is based on mutual feelings that contain love and respect towards each other. Punishment produces superficial behavior that is based on fear. This usually takes place for a certain period until the child matures enough to resist it. If the parents have cooperation that is built on respect, it will last permanently, and they will live many years having mutual happiness, as both parents and the child grow older. Another reason why corporal punishment is detrimental is that most parents did not learn during their own childhood that there are other positive ways of relating to children and punishing them. Thus, when a parent uses a punishment, it does not give the desired goals, and the parents have no alternative method to use, they escalate to other actions that are extremely dangerous to the child. Most children cannot express their anger and frustrations, and, therefore, they keep it inside them. That is why some parents think that angry teenagers fall from the sky. A child may have anger that has accumulated for many years, which later comes as a shock to the parents and the society when the child feels he/she is strong enough and able to express the rage. With the use of punishment at the early years, the parents are able to have a positive effect but later in life, both parents and the society will have to pay dearly for the consequences of using corporal punishment. Spanking, which is usually done on a child’s buttocks, which is his erogenous zone making the child eventually to associate it with pain and pleasure thereby having difficulties in its adulthood. There are some advertisements in the ads such as “Spanking Wanted” which attest the consequences created by this confusion of being pain or pleasure. A child who receives little amount of parental attention except, during the time or receiving punishment, will develop this concept of pain and pleasure in his/her mind, and eventually have low self-esteem. Spanking at moderate levels can also be dangerous. For instance, when one is given a blow on the lower spinal column, shock will be sent along the child’s spine, and this might injure it. Consequently, the common lower back pain experienced by grown-ups may possibly have its genesis from childhood corporal beatings. Nerve damage can make a child become paralyzed and even death due to mild padding caused by undiagnosed complications. The use of corporal punishment gives the message that, it right to hurt a person provided one has power over him/her. Moreover, a child will have the concept of being permissible to hurt other children, who are young or small, and this hinders the establishment of a meaningful relationship that is essential in fulfilling life. In addition, corporal punishment is wrong, as children will learn that hitting another person is the most appropriate way of expressing feelings and even solving a problem. This is because this child has never seen the parent solving a problem in a humane way other than physical punishment. It will be difficult for such a child to learn to solve problems in a humane way because parenting that is unskilled runs to the next generation. Effects of Corporal Punishment on Children There are various effects of corporal punishment, both behavioral, and in terms of development, that affects a child. These effects are usually linked with mental health problems, turning of the corporal punishment into child abuse, and even aggression. Not all children who are punished using this method experience the effects on a long-term basis. Its effects are seemingly positive for a short period. Corporal punishment significantly increases physical abuse, and this makes a child develop a long-term antisocial behavior, hence, when the child grows up, he/she will end up abusing the partner or child. Opponents of this practice have argued that it causes depression, high levels of anxiety, and lowered self-esteem (Austin 136). The child will have a decreased beneficial outcome, which may include poor empathy, poor moral internalization and even poor moral conscience. Smacking has a short-term result in terms of compliance. It is one of the most effective ways of attaining compliance. While corporal punishment does not predict the presence of aggression, physical well-being and even delinquency, this related heavily on the quality of the involvement of parents. From a development perspective, when corporal punishment is used there is a greater risk of escalation, because corporal punishment inhibits the child’s development of internalized conscience, along with inhibition of internalization of prohibition against violence (Dorpat 42). The use of corporal punishment leads to behavioral problems rather than problems caused by behavior that provoke smacking. While factors such as maternal warmth can reduce this effect, it does not exclude the independent effect of having physical punishment. A child who has been slapped or even spanked will have a higher rate of anxiety disorder, dependence on alcohol or even abuse of alcohol and other externalizing problems compared to a child that has never been slapped or spanked. There are accidental injuries that arise as unintended due to secondary effects of corporal punishment. For instance, when a child loses balance when hit by the parent and falls down injuring himself/herself and this should be regarded as an article or feature of the involvements in accidents at home. Thus, corporal chastisement should in no way be used on children since it can lead to shaken infant syndrome or infanticide (Clark, Adamec, and Clark 87). When physical punishments are inflicted, they should be done in a calm and loving manner and not done with anger having a hot blood. When parents are punishing their children, they do it with anger, and this shows that no physical punishment towards a child can be done in a safe manner. There is an inbuilt risk of having an escalation. There is increased potential to lose control while angry and engage in violent behavior toward the child (Giardino, Lyn & Giardino 5). Spanking reduces the undesired behavior, but it reduces in effectiveness with continuous use. In order to maintain the effectiveness, the parent or guardian will systematically increase its intensity, with which the punishment is delivered, this usually escalates to abuse, and this physical abuse eventually gets out of hand. Works Cited Austin W. Michael. Wise Stewards: Philosophical Foundations of Christian Parenting. New York: Kregel Academic. 2009. Clark P. Angelo, Adamec A. Christine and Clark E. Robin. The Encyclopedia of Child Abuse. New York: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. 2007. Dorpat L. Theodore. Crimes of Punishment: America’s Culture of Violence. United States: Algon Publishing. 2007. Giardino P. Angelo, Lyn A. Michelle and Giardino R. Eileen. A Practical guide to the Evaluation of Child Physical Abuse and Neglect. Texas: Springer. 2010. Myers E. B. John. Child Protection in America: Past, Present and Future. New York: Oxford University Press. 2006. Read More