Spanking is a highly controversial issue amongst many American homes. In fact, the issue of spanking has even gone to the Supreme Court based on child abuse clauses in certain states. So what is the issue truly about? For some, they believe that spanking is a physically abusive punishment. They believe that no person has the right to lay a hand on a child regardless of the reason or of the person. The idea is that if you want to correct your child, spanking is not the way to do it.
The flip side to this argument is that spanking is merely a way to get a child’s attention. That anything can be abusive when taken too far, and the intention and motive behind spanking is not abusive. The proponents of spanking have said that for a child that is too young to reason, that it is better to have a physical consequence that will begin to train their children to be more disciplined.
Regardless of the philosophy, many parents offer different styles of consequences to their children. The key point with all of it is that whatever the punishment is, it should be done in love, with a corrective objective. This means that if a child is biting another child, it is important to correct that behavior in a way so that the child knows that biting is wrong. Some view spanking at this time to be beneficial because it provides a physical reminder of why biting is not good to do. Others would disagree saying that it is not good to teach a child to not bite by spanking them. The key is to have efficacy in the punishment, without being abusive. Abuse is not just physical however, and sometimes the scolding that children get, can be just as bad as spanking gone awry.
