Earlier this month, a star running back for the Minnesota Vikings was indicted for whipping his young son bloody with a switch. Leaked photographs allegedly showed Adrian Peterson’s 4-year-old son with cuts and bruises on his legs, back, buttocks and scrotum.
As details about the incident emerged, Peterson took to Twitter to say that he’s not a perfect parent but what he did was not abuse. It was discipline. “My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day,” he wrote.
Many people, and I’m one of them, think Peterson’s actions were disgusting. There’s no way that hitting a 4-year-old with a switch until his body is cut and bruised is a good way to impart values and morals. Peterson’s extreme actions, done in the name of corporal punishment, ignited a ferocious, emotionally fraught debate over whether it’s OK to hit your kid.
The debate reflects deep divides in our society, chasms that track along political, religious, regional and racial lines. Half of all U.S. parents say they’ve spanked their kid. Spanking doesn’t just happen in the privacy of homes, either. Nineteen states allow teachers or principals to hit children.
Opponents often point to scientific studies as proof that spanking is bad. And I confess, I …show more content…
What ethics review would approve a study that requires randomly assigning kids to the spanking condition? So that means researchers have to fall back on observational studies in which they compare kids from similar families that spank or don’t spank. And those comparisons are really hard to interpret. Lots of studies lump together drastically different experiences. One family’s spank might be a firm swat on the fully clothed backside, while in another family, spanking means a belt to a bare bum. One family might spank spontaneously out of anger, while another might treat it as a carefully meted out and fully explained
As details about the incident emerged, Peterson took to Twitter to say that he’s not a perfect parent but what he did was not abuse. It was discipline. “My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day,” he wrote.
Many people, and I’m one of them, think Peterson’s actions were disgusting. There’s no way that hitting a 4-year-old with a switch until his body is cut and bruised is a good way to impart values and morals. Peterson’s extreme actions, done in the name of corporal punishment, ignited a ferocious, emotionally fraught debate over whether it’s OK to hit your kid.
The debate reflects deep divides in our society, chasms that track along political, religious, regional and racial lines. Half of all U.S. parents say they’ve spanked their kid. Spanking doesn’t just happen in the privacy of homes, either. Nineteen states allow teachers or principals to hit children.
Opponents often point to scientific studies as proof that spanking is bad. And I confess, I …show more content…
What ethics review would approve a study that requires randomly assigning kids to the spanking condition? So that means researchers have to fall back on observational studies in which they compare kids from similar families that spank or don’t spank. And those comparisons are really hard to interpret. Lots of studies lump together drastically different experiences. One family’s spank might be a firm swat on the fully clothed backside, while in another family, spanking means a belt to a bare bum. One family might spank spontaneously out of anger, while another might treat it as a carefully meted out and fully explained