Corporal Punishment and Abuse of Children - Assignment Example

1. Why Corporal Punishment Should Be used as a last resort For many years, corporal punishment has been practiced by parents all over the United s (Greven, 1991). In fact throughout the history of this country, parents have been known to inflect varying degrees of corporal punishment on their children as a form of discipline. Children around the age of 3 t0 4 years are the ones who are mostly subjected to this kind of punishment (Straus & Stewart, 1999). Although there are many experts who believe that corporal punishment has desirable effects on children, they are also many experts who think otherwise (Larzelere, 2000). On my part, I strongly believe that corporal punishment should only be given as a last resort. As long as there are other ways to correct the behavioral problems of a child, parents and guardians should not implement corporal punishment. We must understand that corporal punishment can lead to abuse and abuses suffered by young children often leave lasting imprints in their personalities. Is corporal punishment a form of child abuse? Technically, child abuse is different from corporal punishment and we should be very careful about equating the two together. All I am saying here is that corporal punishment has the potential of escalating into abuse. Note the abuse is a blatant disregard of the rights and feelings of the child which often involves injuries on the part of the child. Example of abuses on children is kicking, punching, burning and the likes. On the other hand, corporal punishment is geared towards letting the child experience pain without sustaining injury for purposes of controlling or correcting the wrong behaviors of the child (Larzelere, R. E., Klein, M., Schumm, W. R., & Alibrando, S. A., Jr. (1989). A popular example of corporal punishment is the traditional spanking. One of the leading arguments against the implementation of corporal punishment at home is that the act embodies a kind of aggression. When a parent becomes so angry that he or she exhibits aggressive behavior such as spanking, the child may misconstrue the action of the parent or guardian as a kind of norm. Note that young children learn by imitating their parents so there is a big possibility that when the child is repeatedly exposed to aggressive behaviors, he or she will also adopt such attitude (Parke & Slaby, 1983). What is really scary here is that the child may see aggression as a way to subdue or control the behavior of another person. For instance, when a parent spanks a child for not following orders and then do not explain the child later on why he or she was spanked, the child may begin to see spanking as a way to make a person comply with his or her wishes. This wrong perception of corporal punishment by the child will affect the way he or she relates to his or her peers. Instead of learning to negotiate peacefully with their peers to get what he or she wants, the child who has been exposed to corporal punishment may resort to aggressive behavior in order to get the other person to do what her or she wants. The implementation of corporal punishment becomes more complicated when the parent punishes the child for his or her aggressive conduct towards others. If you take a look at it, the idea that aggression is bad is what the parent is trying to instill in the child in this case but in the effort of telling the child that aggression is bad, the parent is actually performing an act of aggression against the child. Now, how can we teach our children how to properly react to aggression when we ourselves are not showing them the right examples? For instance, when you spank you kid because your kid repeatedly hit another kid, how can you justify your action to the child? How can you tell the child not to hit another person when you are actually hitting him or her too? We must always remember that when dealing with children, we need t be consistent in order to convince the child to follow us. If our actions contradict our words, we cannot really expect our children to understand us. Again, let us remember that children learn through modeling and imitation. With children, our actions relay more tangible ideas than our words so we need to be consistent. Corporal punishment often leaves a lasting imprint in the mind of the child. For many years, studies have shown that corporal punishment has been linked to the antisocial and criminal mind frame of a person (Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985 also cited in Gershoff 2002). Studies have show that many children who suffered through repeated incidents of corporal punishment become antisocial as they grow older. Most of these children find it difficult to relate to others as they grow older. You see, corporal punishment rarely facilitates the internalization of values and morals especially among very young children (Gershoff 2002). You cannot really expect a three year old or a four year old to fully understand why his or her parent spanked him/her. What the child understands well at this stage is physical pain. Understandably, when the child is repeatedly exposed to this kind of pain, he or she becomes resentful of the person who inflicts the pain. According to the social control theory, corporal punishment often affects the personal relationships between parents and the children (Gershoff 2002). The fear of pain often prompts the child to stay away both physically and mentally from his or her parent as much as possible (Saarni, Mumme, & Campos, 1998). When the child grows older, he or she may start to harbor resentments against his or her parents. As resentment builds up inside the child, he or she becomes less motivated to adopt the values that his or her parents are trying to teach him or her (Gershoff 2002). Moreover, as the child grows older, he or she tends to have more social problems and those children who have not been exposed to corporal punishment. In fact, many children who have been subjected to corporal punishment become juvenile delinquents when they reach their teens. Aside from being associated with antisocial and criminal behavior, corporal punishment is also linked with poor mental health as the child grows older. According to McLoyd, Jayaratne, Ceballo, & Borquez, (1994), adolescents who have been exposed to corporal punishment often suffers from depressive symtomatology and distress. Adolescents who have been subjected to coercive disciplinary techniques often losses their self confidence (Lasky, 1993). Fear and humiliation often prevent these adolescents from expressing themselves and asserting their rights (Gershoff 2002). The feeling of helplessness and persecution may lead to depression, suicidal tendencies and alcoholism (Gersoff 2002). Moreover, when the adolescent grows older, get married and have children of his or her own, there is a great possibility that he or she will display the same aggressive behavior to his or her spouse and children (Swinford, DeMaris, Cernkovich, & Giordano, 2000). Often times, those people who are involved with domestic violence are the same people who have been exposed to corporal punishment and other forms of abuses when they were kids. You see, when we subject a child to harsh treatment, we unwittingly conditioned his or her mind that aggression is a legitimate way to control others. If corporal punishment is bad, why would some people continue to advocate for it? In some ways, corporal punishment does have some positive effects on the child especially when the child understands why he or she is being punished. Children can be quite stubborn at times and there are instances when the only way to drive home a message is to let the child experience pain. Of course these cases are quite extreme since there are ways to let a child understand something without the parent resorting to some types of aggressive behavior such as spanking. Now, let us just assume that the parent has reached a dead end in trying to discipline the child and there is no other option but to inflict corporal punishment. At this point, I should say that corporal punishment may be permitted provided that the parent or the guardian let the child understand why he or she is punished. According to Gershoff (2002), children who understand the reason why they are being punished are more likely to accept their punishments and change their ways compared to those children who were not made to understand why they were being punished. In other words, for corporal punishment to achieve its purpose, it is very important that the message from the punishment is communicated accurately to the child to help him or her learn from it. We must understand that unless the child who is being punished knows that his or her parents has his or her best interest at heart when they inflicted the pain, he or she will resent the actions of his parents (Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997). The key her is good communication between the parents and their children. Another argument in favor of corporal punishment is that when a child is constantly exposed to corporal punishment, he or she will accept this situation as a kind of norm and will be less affected by the situation (Rutter, Giller, & Hagell, 1998). The kind of culture that the child is exposed to also contributes to the way the child may view corporal punishment. For instance, in a strictly matriarchal or patriarchal family system when the father or the mother wields their universal authority over their children, the children are less likely to question their parents way of imposing discipline in the home (Rutter, Giller, & Hagell, 1998). Of course for me this may be pushing the issue a little too much. I always believe that when it comes to instilling discipline in children, we have to choose a means that least affect the mental and physical development of the child. As much as possible, we should only use corporal punishment as a last resort. The saying "spare the rod and spoil the kid" is clearly outdated. 2. Why Abused Children Should Be Removed From An Abusive Environment I am strongly against letting a child remain in an abusive environment even when that environment happens to be the only home that the child has. Where is there are clear evidences that a child has been abused by his or her parents, he or she should be removed from the custody of that abusive parent immediately and placed under the care of a member of a adult member of the family preferably the grandparents or adult siblings. As much as possible, the child should not be placed in a foster home because such move might expose the child to further abuses. No, I am not saying that foster homes are abusive by nature but the fact still remains that a child who has suffered through abuses has special needs and things can get quite stressful for the child and his or her foster parents. It is normal for the child to suffer from emotional trauma when he or she is removed from his or her home. We all know that children who are abused by their parents actually loved their abusers very much and would not even dream of parting from them. To cushion the blow of separation from their parents, abused children should be placed under the care of someone whom they already know personally. Being with someone they know will also lessen their anxiety of the future. Moreover, family members are more sympathetic towards the plight of their siblings or grandchildren and are more inclined to be patient with them. According to a research conducted by the UNICEF, abused children who are removed from their homes and placed under foster care often exhibit both short term and long term emotional and behavioral problems (Sandra Stukes Chipungu and Tricia B. Bent-Goodley (2005). When we remove the child from his or her home and put him or her in the care of strangers, he or she goes through at least two very traumatic experiences. First, he or she lost contact with the people who he or she loves so dearly and second, he or she has to adjust to a new environment where he or she does not know anyone. No wonder that most children who are placed in foster homes often suffer from withdrawal, aggression or depression while in the care of their foster parents. It is not uncommon for abused children to suffer from sleep disturbances. Some of them even display negative attitudes such as hoarding food, self-stimulation, excessive eating and other manifestations of severe psychological disturbances (Sandra Stukes Chipungu and Tricia B. Bent-Goodley (2005). Unfortunately, a lot of abused children who are placed under foster homes do not really get the emotional and psychological support that they should have at the most crucial point of their young lives. No, it is not that foster parents do not really try their best to reach out their foster children. It is just that most foster parents are not really equipped to deal with the emotional trauma of the abused child under their care. In most cases, foster parents do not have the proper training or education to handle a severely traumatized child. We must understand that severely traumatized children can be quite difficult to handle. No, these children do not really want to be difficult. Its just that they are undergoing very difficult times and they cannot control the way they act at times. There are many foster parents who truly care about their wards but sometimes, things get quite too complicated for them to handle. Not everyone can really connect with a child who is severely traumatized. It requires great skills to reach out to these children. Compounding the issue of foster care is the limited monetary and training support that the government gives to foster parents (Fees, B.S., Stockdale, D.F., Crase, S.J., et al. (1998). Foster parents are often required to extend extra care and attention to their wards without any additional financial support. Yes, there are really very good foster parents who are willing to spend their own money to help their foster children but these kinds of people are not really quite difficult to find these days. References: 1. Fees, B.S., Stockdale, D.F., Crase, S.J., et al. (1998) Satisfaction with foster parenting: Assessment one year after training. Children and Youth Services Review (1998) 20:347–63. 2. Gershoff Elizabeth Thompson (2002) Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review. Columbia University Psychological Bulletin Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/bul1284539.pdf 3. Greven, P. (1991). Spare the child. New York: Knopf. 4. Gunnoe, M. L., & Mariner, C. L. (1997). Toward a developmental– contextual model of the effects of parental spanking on children’s aggression. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 151, 768–775. 5. Larzelere, R. E., Klein, M., Schumm, W. R., & Alibrando, S. A., Jr. (1989). Relations of spanking and other parenting characteristics to self-esteem and perceived fairness of parental discipline. Psychological Reports, 64, 1140–1142. 6. Larzelere, R. E., Kuhn, B. R., & Johnson, B. (2000). The intervention selection bias. Unpublished manuscript, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, and Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home, Boys Town, NE. 7. Lasky, M. R. (1993). Family genesis of aggression. Psychiatric Annals, 23, 494–499. 8. McLoyd, V. C., Jayaratne, T. E., Ceballo, R., & Borquez, J. (1994). Unemployment and work interruption among African American single mothers: Effects on parenting and adolescent socioemotional functioning. Child Development, 65, 562–589. 9. Parke, R. D., & Slaby, R. G. (1983). The development of aggression. In P. H. Mussen (Series Ed.) & E. M. Hetherington (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (pp. 547–641). New York: Wiley. 10. Rutter, M., Giller, H., & Hagell, A. (1998). Antisocial behavior by young children. New York: Cambridge University Press. 11. Saarni, C., Mumme, D. L., & Campos, J. J. (1998). Emotional development: Action, communication, and understanding. In W. Damon (Series Ed.) & N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (5th ed., pp. 237–309). New York: Wiley. 12. Sandra Stukes Chipungu and Tricia B. Bent-Goodley (2005) Meeting the challenges of contemporary foster care. Children, Families, and Foster Care http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/5-stukes.pdf 13. Straus, M. A., & Stewart, J. H. (1999). Corporal punishment by American parents: National data on prevalence, chronicity, severity, and duration, in relation to child and family characteristics. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2, 55–70. 14. Swinford, S. P., DeMaris, A., Cernkovich, S. A., & Giordano, P. C. (2000). Harsh physical discipline in childhood and violence in later romantic involvements: The mediating role of problem behaviors. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 508–519. 15. Wilson, J. Q., & Herrnstein, R. J. (1985). Crime and human nature. New York: Simon & Schuster. Read More