Discipline or Abuse Some people say that parenting is the most difficult job in the world. Parents always face difficult choices when it comes to raising their children. Choices like education, nutrition, and child care are among those choices, but one of the most important choices a parent must face, is how will they discipline their children. Which method is the most effective to raise well behaved children, thus well behave adults. By definition, the word discipline means “ the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience”(oxford dictionary). Parents can implement several methods of discipline, and most commonly than not, one those methods chosen by parents include corporal punishment, which can include hitting, smacking, slapping, striking a child with your hand or with an object. The method used to discipline is completely a parent’s choice, but the question remains, is hitting, spanking, or striking a child in favor of discipline, an effective way to discipline, or is it just a pure act of child abuse? Any method of discipline a parents chooses will attempt to reach the same goal, to teach children that there will be consequences for their bad behavior, and that good behavior is expected. However, by choosing corporal punishment, some experts argue that it has a negative effect on children that can be carried with them throughout their adulthood. This disciplinary methods alters “the way a child
In modern society, physical discipline is still considered a somewhat suitable way of teaching children how to behave in life, though it is decreasing in popularity as time goes on. When using physical discipline, the parent should never have the intention of causing harm, they should always have the intention of being constructive. Whether or not physical discipline results in a beneficial outcome is dependent upon how it is used. If it is the only, or primary, source of discipline, the outcome is generally unfavorable. Also, as said in an article by Larzelere and Kuhn, if the discipline is too violent, and results in the child becoming injured, the child is not going to retain the intended lesson (1). An example of non-abusive physical discipline is conditional spanking. Conditional spanking "is defined as about two open-hand swats to the buttocks when a parent is not angrily out of control" (Larzelere, Kuhn 1). This type of punishment "teaches a child to cooperate with the milder disciplinary tactic, thereby making spanking less necessary in the future" (Larzelere, Kuhn 1) . When parents decide to use physical discipline, the primary intention of the parent should always be that the punishment is being "used in such a way that [it] reduces the need to use it in the future" (Larzelere, Kuhn 1). A parent should never hit a child
“Physical punishment of children: Can we continue to accept the status quo?” by Kim Oates is a scholarly source found in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. The author of this journal argues that discipline with physical punishment is not only inefficient, but it also causes problems in the emotional and behavioral development of children. He follows by providing practical forms of disciplining such as: removing privileges, teaching by example, having constant supervision, setting appropriate rules, and being consistent. Kim Oates states that those parents who use physical punishment to discipline their children, likely experienced it during their childhood and are usually unaware of these other methods of discipline. Oates included
Punishing children for their wrong-doings has been and always will be necessary for a child's development of right and wrong. The different types of punishments parents use on their children work for various types and degrees of trouble the child is in. Laura Markham, a clinical psychologist that specializes in relationship-based parenting, assumes in her essay “Should You Spank Your Child?” that spanking is one of the worst punishments a child could receive from his parents. However, corporal punishment teaches responsibility and the difference between right and wrong, remains different from abuse, and is not the reason for issues in adulthood.
Everyday children under the age of 18 are maltreated. One out of eight children throughout the U.S suffers from either physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Unfortunately, emotional abuse is not even considered a maltreatment when people think of child abuse. When people think of child abuse the first thing they think about is physical or sexual. Now do not get me wrong, any abuse a child receives is a horrible inhuman like thing because every child is innocent and deserves to live the best life they possibly can live. Although, if we are being quite honest with ourselves nobody really notices this happens until it is mentioned later on when the child gets older. Which I do not blame anyone for because a child does not recall if something is good or bad until they have the ability to be aware of their environment.This is due to the fact that child abuse can start occurring at such an early age. This happens most during the development stage of the child because when a child is young it starts to absorb everything it sees and hears based on their surroundings. Basically, when they start noticing the difference from good or bad. The problem in this situation is that there is a high percentage rate of the youth who are diagnosed with mental disorders and are not being helped properly because most of the time the adults around them do not know how to help. The solution to this problem is simple, we should bring awareness to the main people in the child's life: their
A recent study shows 70 percent of parents believe it is right to discipline a child through physical means. Most commonly, parents will spank their children but being hit with things like belts or other objects happens as well. Parenting methods haven’t changed much with time and discipline in similar no matter the country. With more studies out to find the most effective method of parenting and discipline it’s coming to attention whether or not physical harm is the best way to teach children. Parents want what is best for their children, so it is important to constantly bring up and question methods commonly accepted in the past. One method that is becoming more controversial is spanking children. Though it is still considered normal to do, it is gaining more traction and more studies are being done to find the problems it causes. Checking on parenting methods can be difficult as everyone is raised differently. It is also difficult to test which forms of punishment lead to certain outcomes. However, there is a trend of negative effects from hitting. Gershoff acknowledges, “several national professional organizations have called on parents to abandon spanking as a child rearing practice and for professionals to recommend disciplinary alternatives to spanking.” Spanking children is a terrible discipline method as it has negative effects.
According to Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota, “The goal of discipline is to create an orderly, predictable, stable, and fun world to enjoy and grow healthy.” When it comes to discipling a child, there are many different courses of action that could be taken. Parents can and should discipline their children (Smenyak). There is a large controversy over the most universal discipline method there is, spanking. Many parents believe that spanking their child can be a beneficial way of correcting a child if done correctly (Smenyak). Other parents believe that spanking a child is simply abuse, that it does not work, or that “Spanking plants a seed for later violent behavior,” says AskDrSears.com.
You’ve heard the saying, “children are our future.” Therefore why does the “United States have one of the worst records for child abuse” (childhelp.org). According to the 2015 child maltreatment report,” almost 7.2 million children were involved in some sort of abuse whether mental, emotional, physical or sexual and 75.3% of victims are neglected” (americanspcc.org). You’ve seen the news reports of children being neglected whether it’s a parent who forgets their child was in the car and locks them in on a hot summer day roasting their child’s little life away, or the parent who beats their child to their death, or the parent who is suffering an addiction and doesn’t provide the proper quality of life and care to their child or children that they are taken away by the state only to be dumped into the foster care system. Research states, “that an estimated 1,670 children died in 2015 from abuse or neglect and 207,000 children received foster care services” (americanspcc.org).
Even after years of research, the issue of whether spanking is an adequate discipline strategy or damaging to children remains a controversial topic. According to Kazdin and Benjet (2003) the definition of spanking is “. . . hitting a child with an open hand on the buttocks or extremities with the intent to discipline without leaving a bruise or causing physical harm (p. 100). In addition, according to Maguire-Jack, Gromoske and Berger (2012) only a few studies propose that spanking is an effective form of discipline. On the other hand, there is more evidence to show that spanking is an unsuccessful form of discipline that can led to unwanted consequences (p. 1960). I personally do not take a stance in this topic because I can see valid points from both parties. Although, I believe that the way the punishment is presented to the child is extremely important. For example, I feel that the child should know why he or she is punished and what is expected of them thereafter.
Child discipline is an important part of parenthood. It is challenging for adults to manage children’s behaviors and find the correct lessons that will benefit their children. According to the research performed by Flynn (1998), most parents in the United States agree that "it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a good, hard spanking" (p.26). Socolar et al. performed research which agreed that “corporal punishment of children persists—roughly fifty percent of the parents of toddlers in the United States use corporal punishment as a regular method of disciplining their children.” (as cited in Gershoff, 2010, p.32). That is not to say that physical punishment is the solution as it can stop a behavior immediately but the results
Her credentials are professional nanny with “twenty-five years experience of helping families." Her stake in this issue is to help “parents transform the troublesome behavior of children and bring more peace and harmony to families.” She aims this book at parents of toddlers and young children. Her purpose is to persuade readers that discipline is not a bad thing and inform readers the proper way of implementing effective discipline techniques. She writes in an effort to “change that perception here and now because… parents’ inner conflict over the idea of discipline has led to lax, inconsistent, and ineffective methods of disciplining children, resulting in their being raised without proper limits and boundaries, and ultimately without respect, empathy, and compassion for others.” She claims that by implementing her five toddler rules parents will head in the right direction to creating “well-behaved respectful individuals.” She argues as related to the topic, discipline absolutely must not be physical… I’m credited in Great Britain with being responsible for 67 percent of parents now choosing not to spank, by helping them learn effective nonphysical discipline techniques. She reports a statistical ratio of parents who were spanked as children and currently claim to spank their children (sharp decline). She reports her findings resulted because the adulds who recieved corporal punishment as
When someone becomes a parent they constantly worry about how their child will turn out, if they’ll raise their child correctly, and some people even obsess with wanting to use the best disciplinary methods on their children. Everyone has their own input, their own view, and their own opinion about how to parent a child correctly. Spanking is a universally debated topic. Many experts go against corporal punishment, but many parents still think that spanking is an effective discipline strategy. Should they do it? Is it effective? What are the consequences and the effects? Throughout my paper I will go over the many reasons as to parents should not spank their children.
Many studies have come out with negative effects that can come about from using many forms of corporal punishment. As parents we need to ask ourselves are we able to control ourselves when we are upset at our kids? Are we able to be fair to our kids? Can the things we do to our children come back and turn out to be used against us and others? “Corporal punishment
The world has changed in many different ways, but there are still things that need to be changed for the better. Corporal punishment is one of those things. All around the world, corporal punishment is affecting children in many ways. It is described as a form of discipline that hurts a child in a way and is used both in homes and schools. It has been going on for years upon years and very few people try to stop it. People believe corporal punishment is good for children, but there have been so many negative outcomes that other people argue against it. Although some people believe that corporal punishment helps improve a child’s behavior, corporal punishment should not be used because it could be used excessively and it is ineffective.
Children are like flowers, if well taken care of they will bloom. If ignored or tortured, they will wither and die. Child discipline is one of the most important elements of successful parenting. Today, many people have this notion that physical abuse is in no way a solution to helping children discern between right and wrong. Since generations children have been taught the art of discipline through physical punishment. Often this approach to disciplining has resulted in two outcomes, one is where the child becomes more tolerant and is willing to adhere to what he/she has been told, or the other which more often results in children developing a sense of anguish and desire to revolt.
School discipline is to ensure that students and the campus staff are safe and peaceful. According to the U.S. Department of Education on Rethinking Discipline (2017), “Teachers and students deserve school environments that are safe, supportive, and conducive to teaching and learning.” The idea is to decrease bad behavior and school violence which will lead to fewer suspensions and expulsions. There are rules and limitations when it comes to student discipline; there are acts in which students can and must be disciplined. For examples, if a student quality’s for special needs some different guidelines protect them under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s (IDEA). Furthermore, the Education Code, Section 48900 was implied to discipline students who committed any wrongful doing such as attempting or threatening to physical harm another person. In the case f any wrongfulness, the student is forced to be disciplined by being suspended or expulsed from school.