Corporal Punishment
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them” (Proverbs 13:24, King James Version).
“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15, King James Version).
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (Proverbs 29:15, King James Version).
The scriptures quoted above have been taken from the ‘Bible’; a book that has been widely viewed as a source of wisdom in dealing with life’s various challenges or situations such as marriage, love and discipline. However, many persons are beginning to question the validity of this book as a source of wisdom when facing controversial topics such as corporal punishment. This has been noted as countries worldwide, create bills that seek to ban corporal punishment via spanking when disciplining children. Advocates of these bills further their cause via newspaper articles, blogs, magazines, talk shows, interviews, etc. They claim that corporal punishment is a form of child abuse as it negatively affects the child mentally and physically. However, on the continuum of child rearing, corporal punishment in the form of controlled, purposeful spanking differs greatly from child abuse because it is non-injurious, instills values and sets boundaries.
Firstly, although controlled purposeful spanking inflicts pain, it does not inflict physical harm to the child. Walsh (2002) posited that corporal punishment is “the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for purposes of correction or control of the child 's behaviour". A well known proverb states that “A burnt child dreads the fire.” If a child goes too near a fire, it will burn itself and make it suffer pain. Hence, it will teach it to be careful and be very cautious in approaching a fire again. In the United States of
“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them” (Proverbs 13:24, King James Version).
“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15, King James Version).
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (Proverbs 29:15, King James Version).
The scriptures quoted above have been taken from the ‘Bible’; a book that has been widely viewed as a source of wisdom in dealing with life’s various challenges or situations such as marriage, love and discipline. However, many persons are beginning to question the validity of this book as a source of wisdom when facing controversial topics such as corporal punishment. This has been noted as countries worldwide, create bills that seek to ban corporal punishment via spanking when disciplining children. Advocates of these bills further their cause via newspaper articles, blogs, magazines, talk shows, interviews, etc. They claim that corporal punishment is a form of child abuse as it negatively affects the child mentally and physically. However, on the continuum of child rearing, corporal punishment in the form of controlled, purposeful spanking differs greatly from child abuse because it is non-injurious, instills values and sets boundaries.
Firstly, although controlled purposeful spanking inflicts pain, it does not inflict physical harm to the child. Walsh (2002) posited that corporal punishment is “the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for purposes of correction or control of the child 's behaviour". A well known proverb states that “A burnt child dreads the fire.” If a child goes too near a fire, it will burn itself and make it suffer pain. Hence, it will teach it to be careful and be very cautious in approaching a fire again. In the United States of
References: Bauman, L. J., & Friedman, S. B. (1998). Corporal Punishment. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 45(2), 403 - 414. Retrieved September 26, 2013, from the theclinics.com database. Walsh, W. (2002). Spankers and non-spankers: Where they get information from. Family Relations, 51(1), 81 - 88. Retrieved September 26, 2013, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3700302 Tartakovsky, M. (2011). 10 Ways to Build and Preserve Better Boundaries. Psych Central. Retrieved October 3, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com