Should Australian Parents Be Prohibited from Legally Smacking Their Children?

Should Australian parents be prohibited from legally smacking their children?
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The short answer is yes, it should be illegal for parents to smack their children. Did you know that 90% of parents spank their toddlers at least three times a week; two-thirds spank them once a day? When a child misbehaves or acts in a disobedient, inappropriate, or even dangerous way, you want to show him/her that their behaviour is unacceptable and must change. Smacking may seem like a direct and effective way to do that, but it just delivers other messages you don't want to send to a child. Firstly parents are the role models to their children; secondly smacking damages a child’s self-esteem and lastly it gives an example that violence solves problems. 1) Parents are the role models:
The most influential role models in a child’s life are their parents. It is important that parents act as a model for how they want their children to behave. Virtually all of the most dangerous criminals were regularly threatened and punished in their childhood. It is natural that children learn attitudes and behaviors through observation and imitation of their parents’ actions, so it is the responsibility of parents to set an example of understanding and wisdom to them. Studies found that the more corporal cvvvpunishment a parent reported using, the greater the probability of the child being a delinquent. "I have yet to see a repeat male delinquent that wasn't raised on a belt, board, cord, or fist," says Ralph Welsh, a child and adolescent psychologist who has interviewed over 4,000 juvenile delinquents in more than 30 years of research. According to Welsh, the physical and mental pain of being hit by a parent frightens children. "But eventually," he says, "the fear fades out and what's left is anger and aggression." So is smacking the kind of example we want to send to our kids in the future? Do you really want them to look upon you with fear and anger?

2) Smacking damages s child’s self-esteem:
Self-esteem is a critically important and fragile thing for a kid, especially during their youth when self-esteem is just being built. To a child, smacking tells them they are bad, that they are small, weak, powerless and devalued this erodes his/her self-esteem. So if you want a child to succeed in life, the level of his or her self-esteem will be a major determining factor. “Parents often smack because it's a quick fix. It temporarily stops the behaviour, but all it teaches children is to be fearful of the authority figure which is the parent,” says Leiderman, a professor from the University of Michigan (Yale). According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, corporal punishment can lead to emotional and behavioural problems down the road. Later in life, children who were involved in physical punishment may risk mental-health problems including depression, anxiety and drug and alcohol use when they are older. There’s neuroimaging evidence that physical punishment may alter parts of the brain involved in performance on IQ tests and up the likelihood of substance abuse. And there’s also early data that spanking could affect areas of the brain involved in emotion and stress regulation.

3) Smacking gives the example that violence solves problems: Using physical punishment or inflicting pain on a child to stop them from misbehaving only teaches them that it is OK to solve problems with violence. Children learn how this is done from watching their parents use physical violence against them. Australian child and clinical psychologist, John Waring, has written, 'Research has confirmed that smacking children teaches them to use acts of aggression and violence to solve their problems’. There are much acceptable ways to discipline a child. Discipline is important; it means “to teach”. By explaining to a child what they did wrong, reasoning, establishing rules and consequences will probably be a more suitable way to teach a child how to behave properly. Physically punishing a child isn’t going to work, it can be perceived as a form of bullying. Studies show that if a child is smacked, they are more likely to have unhealthy relationships when they become adults. Also research shows that children who are smacked are more likely to fight with and hit other children. In his article "The 13 Ways Spanking Harms Children," Michael J. Marshall, PhD, says that "children who are spanked engage in more hitting and fighting than those who are not physically punished by their parents.” Spanking teaches children to use aggression and force to get what they want. When a parent smacks their child, whether they are aware of it or not, they are teaching them that hitting someone else is okay. Conclusion:
Some parents argue that smacking their child is the only way they can get them to listen or behave. However they fail to understand that kids are kids and that they are going to make mistakes and so they too deserve the same respect as anyone does. It’s only natural for children to be curious so, why can’t children learn from their own mistakes? Why do parents insist on punishing them? Overall with the studies shown, parents smacking their children in Australia should be illegal.

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