Beverly Riggenbach Riggenbach 1
Mr. Shields
English 1030
5/7/14
Spanking: Discipline or abuse? Is spanking your child really a sign of abusing them? Does it hurt them as much as what it seems? Who’s to say what’s right and what’s wrong about how to discipline your child? Spanking your child when they misbehave has been a custom for years and years but why is it at all of sudden considered abuse? And that it leads to adult mental illnesses? Because of the idea that spanking is abuse and leads to adult illnesses, parents all over the world are turning to other discipline techniques that ultimately do not have the same affect as spanking them. According to Abcnews.go, “Childhood punishments such as spanking, slapping, and hitting – even in the absence of full-scale maltreatment – are associated with an increased risk of mental disorders in adulthood, researchers reported.” Adults who have spanked as a kid were most likely abused also. Afifi and his colleagues did surveys with thousands of people asking them about their current mental conditions, and past incidences of physical punishments. . In interviews, participants were asked: "As a child how often were you ever pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped or hit by your parents or any adult living in your house?" On a five-point scale, answers could be: never, almost never, sometimes, fairly often, and very often. Participants who answered sometimes or higher were defined to have experienced harsh physical punishment. Afifi and colleagues reported, 5.9 percent of the total, or 1,258 participants, reported physical Riggenbach 2 punishment. “They were more likely to be male, black, and to have a family history of dysfunction.” (Smith, www.abcnews.go) For centuries, spanking a child has always been the way to discipline them and was never considered abuse. The Bible talks about disciplining children in a few different verses: Proverbs 13:24 says, “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” And Proverbs 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” (English Standard Version, Proverbs 13:24; 22:15) These verses mean that “sparing the rod” or not disciplining them right, will lead the child to folly and that discipline will train the child to grow up right. “Regardless of the method, the Bible's word on discipline clearly demands that parents be responsible and diligent in spanking, but strongly prohibits physical abuse of any kind.” (Ingram, www.focusonthefamily.com) The way that the Bible talks about discipline, it does not actually say the word “spank” but it does talk about disciplining a child up in the way of the Lord. Just the Lord disciplines his children; he is gentle yet firm; not harming us to the point of resenting him but firm enough to teach us a lesson. The point of spanking a child is making it effective. Of course it’s going to hurt them; but making sure that you get the point across so that next time they misbehave, the child knows what the consequence is and they will refrain from misbehaving again. From a parent’s point of view, yes it’s going to be hard to spank them because they are little and they are your child but when that child gets older and behaves, the parent will realize how effective spanking is. “A parent must sometimes do unpleasant things for the child's own good. A parent may have to let a doctor give her child a shot. The shot is painful and makes the child cry, but it is necessary. A spanking Riggenbach 3 is the same way. It is painful, and no parent wants to do it, but it is sometimes necessary. Letting misbehavior go unpunished would be even worse.” (Preston, www.angelfire.com) Spanking has several advantages over other forms of discipline. No other form of discipline has quite the same effect as spanking does. Preston makes the point, “The advantages of spanking are its