Spanking Children: What's A Christian To Do?
The Report on Physical Punishment in the United States
What Research Tells Us About Its Effects on Children
http://www.phoenixchildrens.com/PDFs/principles_and_practices-of_effective_discipline.pdf
- There is little research evidence that physical punishment improves children’s behavior in the long term.
- There is substantial research evidence that physical punishment makes it more, not less, likely that children will be defiant and aggressive in the future.
- There is clear research evidence that physical punishment puts children at risk for negative outcomes, including increased mental health problems.
- There is consistent evidence that children who are physically punished are at greater risk of serious injury and physical abuse.
Why Is Physical Punishment Not Effective as a Discipline Technique?
- It does not teach children why their behavior was wrong or what they should do instead.97,98
- It can interfere with parents’ intended message. The pain and fear associated with physical punishment can interfere with children’s perception and acceptance of parents’ disciplinary message and thus their internalization of that message.81
- It teaches children that they should behave in desired ways because if not they will be punished, not because there are important, positive reasons for behaving appropriately. Consequently, when the threat of punishment is not present, there is no reason to behave appropriately.97,98
- It models for children that it is acceptable to use aggression to get their way, especially if they are bigger or more powerful than the other person.99,100
- It can increase the likelihood that children will attribute hostile intentions to others in social situations that, in turn, increase the likelihood that they will behave aggressively in social interactions.101
- It may cause children to be afraid of their parents. Such fear can erode the parent-child relationship and can cause children to avoid their parents.80
- It may teach children to link violence with loving relationships.102
http://www.phoenixchildrens.com/about/community-outreach-education/effective-discipline.html
IS CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF DISCIPLINE?
http://www.apa.org/releases/spanking.html
“Gershoff found ‘strong associations’ between corporal punishment and all eleven child behaviors and experiences. Ten of the associations were negative such as with increased child aggression and antisocial behavior. The single desirable association was between corporal punishment and increased immediate compliance on the part of the child…”
“The more often or more harshly a child was hit, the more likely they are to be aggressive or to have mental health problems…”
“While the nature of the analyses prohibits causally linking corporal punishment with the child behaviors, Gershoff also summarizes a large body of literature on parenting that suggests why corporal punishment may actually cause negative outcomes for children. For one, corporal punishment on its own does not teach children right from wrong. Secondly, although it makes children afraid to disobey when parents are present, when parents are not present to administer the punishment those same children will misbehave…”
“‘Until researchers, clinicians, and parents can definitively demonstrate the presence of positive effects of corporal punishment, including effectiveness in halting future misbehavior, not just the absence of negative effects, we as psychologists can not responsibly recommend its use,’ Gershoff writes.”
The study includes this summary of the countries around the world and their positions on corporal punishment:
http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/pdfs/reports/GlobalReport2007.pdf
So, what should a Christian parent do?
Please take some TIME to read and prayerfully consider my research and conclusions at this link:
Christian Child Discipline: Is Spanking Biblical? (No!)
http://parentingfreedom.com/discipline
Scripture and Quotes
http://parentingfreedom.com/quotes-discipline/
About The Author
Thanks for posting that, Carol! I actually know the author of that, though I doubt she remembers me… I met her when I was in graduate school. I think a good friend of mine worked with her on some projects.
Thank you for posting this, Carol.