Pros And Cons Of Spanking

Spanking is the act of smacking the buttocks of a child with an opened hand. Some parents adopt this form of corporal punishment as a back up to non-physical discipline. The law should not ban the act of spanking a child in parenting because it is not a form of abuse. Parents should be free to spank their children appropriately, at the right time and for the right reasons, to create an understanding for what is acceptable and what is not. Definitely, spanking is an effective parenting tool. On the other hand, many countries banned spanking because they believe it to be a form of physical abuse that could lead the child to develop psychological problems. In fact, Sweden was the first country to banish such act in 1979, and the European Committee has been trying to encourage the countries of the European Union to do the same. In 2007, New Zealand, Netherlands, Portugal, Uruguay, Venezuela, Spain and Chile approved laws that prohibit parents from punishing their children with spanking (Research Paper n. pag.). Moreover, it looks like many other countries are considering banning spanking as an educational practice. In contrast, 77% of Americans agree that it is sometime necessary to
Elizabeth Gershoff, a developmental psychologist at the University of Texas in Austin, said that multiple studies have concluded that such punishment doesn’t create a short-term compliance or help children learn right from wrong in the long-term. Furthermore, she said that spanking is correlated with increased antisocial behavior, more mental health problems and less self-regulation (Laird n. pag.). If such studies were accurate, there would definitely be an improvement in children’s behavior in the countries where the law banned spanking. Instead, such improvement never occurred. In fact, Sweden is a clear example of the