Research Paper

Should Parents Use Physical Punishment on Their Children ? Fatimah Alyami University of Cincinnati ELS English Language Center

Abstract

Family bonding is one of the most important factors that builds a child's personality. Also,

methods of raising children are the basic factors that affect their growth psychologically and

socially. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with children carefully because they will be

contributors in society's development in future. Recently, many children who have been exposed

to physical punishment or domestic violence by one of their family members cannot express their

feelings verbally until they become adults. In this paper, I will prove that physical punishment

has negative effects more than positive effects especially on their mental capacity.

Should parents use physical punishment on their children?

Neighbor Roger Simpson told USA that he saw a little girl running fast at around four in the afternoon as if there was a lion chasing after her, but there was no one behind her (Madans, 2012). A nine-years old Alabama resident, Savannah Hardin, was being punished for lying to her grandmother about eating a candy bar. When police contacted Savannah’s grandmother, she indicated that the child was ordered to run for several hours without food or drink in the scorching heat. The victim was life-lifted to the children’s hospital where doctors worked to save her life. Later that day, Savannah died despite all attempts to save her life. The doctor said that Savannah’s extreme dehydration resulted in the heat stroke that took her life. Was it fair in stealing Savannah’s childhood for her theft of the candy bar? Was that what we learned in the school to kill our kids instead of teaching them? Should a child’s mistake be the reason for death? Really unbelievable! Savannah is not the only victim of corporal punishment. There are many stories about how some women or men take away the life of their children in order to teach them the correct behavior. There is NO reason for a mother carrying a child for 9 months waiting to deliver this child into the world, then taking the child’s life away. Physical punishment is a form of penalty, and it is using power to force or threaten another person. This includes hitting with objects, slapping, spanking, and to force the children to stand for long periods of time, which causes physical or psychological damage, as a mean of discipline. There are many of experiences of corporal punishment such as when parents spank their child to stop his tantrum because he doesn't want to buy something for him or when parents shake her kids because they have hit another child, and the most common places where violence occurs are the home and school.
Some punishments were still hidden from view or were not reported because physical punishment for many children is routine and part of their daily reality. The physical punishments can be divided into two types including psychological and corporal punishment. The psychological punishments are such as insulting, ignoring and verbal punishment. On the other hand, beating, kicking and slapping refer to the corporal punishment. Although the results may depend on the nature and severity of punishment, all kinds of physical punishment can still have severe implications for child development, health and ability to learn.

In “Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences : A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review “, many researchers found that negative effects in child’s life are associated with corporal punishment (Gershoff, 2002). In fact, most parents have different methods to raise their children, some of them still believe that they have the right to use some physical punishments to deal with certain misbehavior of children at different ages and stages. However, others do not recognize this methods for teaching children, believing that there are others ways to manage undesirable behaviors without any physical punishment. This method is a negative way and a serious problem that many families deal with it to discipline their children because children who are punished physically have more aggressive behavior, weak relationships with parents and has significantly affected on their mental abilities, whether it is physically or psychologically.

First, supporters of physical punishment of children believe that the physical pain is the best way to get children to remember the lesson being learned. However, physical punishment is not a solution but leads to negative behaviors such as lying, theft, also leads to side effects as an aggression. According to Gershoff (2002),in “Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review,” the association between corporal punishment and children’s aggression is one of the most studied and debated findings in the child-rearing literature (Gershoff, 2002). Some parents cause severe emotional and physical damage on their children such as aggression. As a result, aggression, in all its forms, is one of the problematic behaviors experienced by parents from children. To understand what to do when children are aggressive, parents must first find out where it comes from. In fact, there are many of things that can anger a child, whatever big or small, but the one cause of aggression is the result of frequent corporal punishment on children by parents, and there are several manifestations for aggression that can show up in many different ways, including hitting, yelling, kicking and even depression . (I think this is my words )

There is sometimes an easy way for finding reasons for allowing some physical punishment on children, but the big problem is many parents find it so difficult to stop physical punishment completely. Some parents state that this is the way that were brought up themselves, and it did not do any harm to them they still alive as they said. Also, some parents believe that they have the right to discipline the child in any way they see it is correct, including using corporal punishment.
However, among findings about physical punishment research, this method can be quick and effective and a way to stop behavior. This is evidenced by many studies showing that the abuse begets abuse, and that violence begets violence. According to “ More Harm than Good : A Summary of Scientific Research on the Intended and Unintended Effects of Corporal Punishment on Children,” (Gershoff, 2010), children who were exposed to corporal punishment are the most aggressive category as a result of a reaction of physical punishment. So, children learn attitudes by observation and imitation from their parent’s action. In addition, children who were treated brutally and violent in their childhood seek revenge in later life to commit violent crimes (Gershoff, 2010). Lastly, all kinds of punishment lead to exacerbate the problem of child’s negative behaviors as if fuel was added to the fire.

Aggressive behavior is a phenomenon that can appear in the child’s early years, and the influence of beating the children from the age of two to ten years, is more likely to develop aggression in adulthood as well as the rebellion in the home or school. In the article “ Physical, Psychological Punishment Does Not Teach Children to Be Good Citizens,” Africa News Service (2005) writes

Physical punishment can cause serious physical and psychological harm. It teaches children that violence is an acceptable strategy to solve conflicts; research proves it to be an ineffective discipline strategy and has a negative impact on school performance. Finally, physical and humiliating punishment increase the use of violence in society.

Children have learned that bad behavior can be returned with bad behavior. Furthermore, there were severe cases of children who were exposed to physical punishment who tended toward violent behaviors to their parents or their peers or even their teachers.

Aggression in children is acquired by learning from persons who use any kind of physical punishment in order to resolve their problems that they face. Some psychologists believe that aggression is a learned behavior from the environment surrounding the child, especially the family. A kid can become more aggressive if his parents are using any kind of physical punishments. According to Gershoff (2002), “Aggression is often combined with antisocial behavior to constitute what are typically referred as externalizing behavior problems.” Dr. Gershoff’s study found that parents who use corporal punishment can lead to such child’s experiences as greater aggression and being a victim of child abuse. So the environment that uses physical punishment is likely to lead to aggressive behavior in children, as a child becomes obstinate with his parents, he starts to hit him without knowing what he did wrong. Therefore, using any kind of physical punishment is one of the fastest way to ruin a child and to causes more problems. Some people disagree with a law against hitting children because it is unfair for parents' rights. So what about the children? Are not they also people who should have rights? According to Pinheiro (2006), in” World Report on Violence against Children,” the protection of children from violence, exploitation and abuse is a significant aspect to protecting their rights to survival, growth and development (Pinheiro, 2006). Nobody denies that the biggest impact people in children’s lives are

their parents, especially when they use the negative forms of discipline such as physical punishment their kids. That will be more likely to use violence on the other children to resolve the conflicts that occur to them. So, incorrect behaviors in children are usually a reflection of imitation of their parental behaviors. Researchers at the University of Michigan and five other universities looked at practices and perceptions of discipline in six countries. They found that spanking leads to more child aggression and anxiety, regardless of the country (Kaylor, nd). So, physical punishments do more harm than good and will not lead to any result or solution. Also, In “Coercion and Punishment in Long-Term Perspectives,” McCord (1998) states corporal punishment has been hypothesized to increase the aggression in children because it is a model of aggressive behavior. That means parents need to learn about child development ,and how to use some methods to respond well on their children’s behaviors instead of using physical punishment. Finally, physical punishment can never be a positive way to raise kids, it may lead to many aggressive behaviors, and instead of learning a good behavior such as respecting others, they will learn revenge, hate and fear.

Second, using physical punishment to discipline children is lamentable. Some parents believe that the lessons which are learned by the physical pain will make the children more likely to learn the lesson forever. However, this method of physical punishment does nothing at all to stop children from doing the same things over again, and it just makes kids fearful of their own parents. So, it is clear that parental behavior leaves a clear imprint in the formation of the child's personality. Some parents who believe that if children are afraid from their parents, they will be more obedient toward their parents. In fact, parents are the model and example for children. If children suffer from mental anguish or a weak relationship with parents, they should ask themselves ,"What did I do to my child ?” The child's nature always tends to imitate his/her parents because the imitation is easy way to acquire the good or bad behavior that happens around children. Consequently, parents should know how to care and deal with their children because the child is subject to imitate what he sees. Recently, parents who support physical force believe that physical punishment is useful in training children to modify their behavior, and it can provide an explicit reaction for disproportionate behavior. On the other hand , opponents of corporal punishment claim that using any kind of physical force is never an admissible method to discipline children because it causes weakness of the relationship between parents and their children. In fact, there are some parents who go to a psychiatrist to determine the causes of weakness of the relationship between them and their children. Indeed, the weakness comes from physical punishment when they give it to children. In the article, “Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences” Gershoff (2002) states that

Social control theories of physical punishment suggest that parental corporal punishment erodes the parent-child relationship and in turn decreases the children’s motivation to internalize parents' value and those of the society.

Social control theory means “the ability of social groups or institutions to make norms or rules effective (this is the definition) . So, the weakness of a relationship between the child and the parent is the opposite reaction caused by corporal punishment. Finally, there are a lot of methods for handling children, but physical punishment is the wrong way because it causes more problems in child’s life.

Using any type of corporal punishment may lead to disintegration of the family, and may affect on the relationship between parents and children because it is not the nature of children to love the person who hurt them. According to ( Kazdin , 1985), in “Childhood Depression”, there is a sample of children living in the hospital and subjected to kinds of physical punishment with the stable conditions, so it was noticed that children of the first group suffer from depression and low self-esteem. In other words , there is a relationship between children who were exposed to the punishment and the occurrence of behavior disorders. That means children who grow up in a harsh environment and domestic violence are not able to control anger and aggression with their parents or friends. In addition, children have weak social relationships with parents and relatives, suffer from constant fighting and withdrawal from social activities. They also have an excessive fear of strangers and suffer from extreme shyness. Moreover, children who are subjected to corporal punishment suffer from serious depression that is accompanied by lower social functioning (Kazdin, 1985). So, physical punishment affects children negatively in their relationships with their parents and also their relationships with others in the future.

With physical punishment, it is easy to see that physical punishment erodes trust between a parent and a child, and can cause injuries like bruises, broken bones, welts, and nerve damage. In the other words, physical punishment promotes hostile attributions, which predict violent behavior (Gershoff, 2002). Additionally, children who suffer from hitting often grow up with childhood memories of resentment and anger. However, there are alternatives that exist as children can learn best from their parents through teaching and discussing, because hitting the children for something wrong or misbehavior loses an important opportunity to teach a more appropriate behavior. According to Africa News Service (2011) in “Corporal Punishment - When Disciplining Is Taken Too Far,” corporal punishment is completely bad behavior because the children do not know what they did wrong , then they will do it again because no one tells them why it is wrong. In general , physical punishment is related to a worsening of behavior more than an improvement in behavior that leads to increase the wrong behavior.

Finally, some parents believe that physical punishment is necessary to punish children, as long as it is not excessive. On the other hand, others agree that physical punishment destroys the capacity of children, and hurting their feelings. Researchers confirmed that children's exposure to physical punishment and beatings affects their lives significantly. According to Zolotor (2011),in “Corporal Punishment and Physical Abuse: Population-Based Trends for Three-to-11-year-old Children in the United States ” the negative consequences of exposure of children to spankings are the feeling of isolation and loneliness and a clear decline in the growth of a child mental abilities and mental development.” That means children who were exposed to both verbal abuse and corporal punishment lead to more rates of aggression, and interpersonal problems.

Children have an excessive energy and they can do bad behaviors, but whatever the things that kids do it, no need to resort to corporal punishment at all with children because hitting a child probably stops misbehavior temporarily. However, corporal punishment is hurtful for children and can lead to a negative impact on their mental abilities . In this article “Corporal Punishment and Physical Abuse: Population-Based Trends for Three-to-11-year-old Children in the United States” (Zolotor, 2011), he highlighted the negative consequences of exposure of children to being hit are the feeling of isolation and loneliness and a clear decline in the growth of the child mental and mental development (Zolotor, 2011). The punishment of the child will not lead to any result or solution, it just destroys the capacity of child that distinguishes him from others. So, corporal punishment has a negative impact, whether it is physically or psychologically to the child. Some people think that corporal punishment makes children stronger to prepare them for life, however, corporal punishment promotes a negative view of others such as people, society, and creates barriers of communication between parents and their children.

Using physical punishment is an critical public health problem everywhere, and it deeply affects on the mental health of children and the society in which we live. Over 60% of families use physical punishment to discipline children. Research shows that physical punishment is connected with an increase in antisocial behavior, such as aggression in children, decrease in the quality of the parent-child relationship, and mental health(Gershoff, 2002). Also, she states that Family is an essential element in all behavioral problems and mental disorders in children. Besides that, physical punishment and beatings of children affect their lives dramatically, there are negative consequences of physical punishment, including isolation and loneliness, with a clear decline in the growth of the child mental and mental development, decline in cognitive abilities of the child, intense fear, lack of self-confidence and laziness at school. The children usually are characterized by fearing punishment, but when the child becomes a teenager can be involved in aspects that destroy himself such as smoking or drug addiction or involved in criminal activity (Gershoff, 2002).

There is no doubt that the role of mother and father in the early years of the life of their child are the most important and the greatest roles. Parents should assume the responsibility of disciplining their children because children today are victims of violent behavior in the home, that supposed to be the most secure for them. According to Shute (2010) , in "Effective Discipline Will Help Some Children Avoid Behavioral Disorders", parents shouldn't spank if they have major depression, major marital problems, or substance abuse problems. They shouldn't spank in desperation or in anger, that's what leads to the negative outcomes, like increased violence and associated with corporal punishment. The majority of social and psychological studies have been about domestic violence. Shute (2010), stressed that a child who is exposed to punish or who watches the violence, usually is practicing an aggression against those who are weaker than him\her.

In conclusion, the effects of physical punishment that are shown in this paper are strong enough to permit a conclusion that it has been proven that violence causes long term adverse effects on children. According to Gershoff (2002), spanking is correlated with children's higher levels of immediate compliance, but it is also correlated with aggression, low levels of moral internalization, and low levels of mental health (Gershoff, 2002). All parents have to change their beliefs and incorrect methods about how children should be raised, and avoid the use of physical force in the home, and even at schools. So all parents will help the society move closer to dream of removing violence in everywhere. Undoubtedly, all the children deserve to live. We do not seek to persecute parents who deal with physical punishment, but we need to make our society safe to move along and leave this old practice. Parents have to know that all the children have rights, known as the United Nations Convention that children have many rights of great importance, for example right to life, the protection of children from work, and the right to protection from danger ,child slaves, and respect for their private lives and family, and the right to education. We must find a solution not to hit our own children, there are positive alternatives to physical punishment, such as using words instead of actions, listening to the child, and the most effective in explaining the reasons, this will reduce falling in the wrong behavior again.

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