Spanking Debate

Debate Between Whether or Not Spanking Should be Outlawed Spanking or physically laying your hand on your child in a form of discipline which seems to be one of the controversial issues of today, more coined as abuse. When the word abuse comes to mind people seem to think that a scar or bruise has to be visible but not all forms of abuse are visible to the naked eye. It can go skin deep and until a bruise is shown, abuse will not be reported. But the question remains unanswered about whether or not spanking is a form of abuse. To some people spanking seems to be the only form of punishment that seems to work and seems to make the child behave and others sees it as a form of abuse that is emotional and leaves a nasty scar in the mind. Today …show more content…
Studies have showed that time-out and room isolation is just as effective as a spanking on the behind or a physical hold on a child (Larzelere). It also shows that those who were spanked have a probability of abusing and hitting others just because they think that it is okay and that they are bigger and not know any better. It was done to them so they think that they can do it to others (Jenny). Just because one spank a child once does not means that it always works. “Suppose a child is spanked and then repeats a behavior, research shows that this happens just as often as when a parent simply says no and the child does the action again” (Straus). Many believe spanking to not be as effective or necessary because it weighs about the same as doing other forms of punishment like: time-out, explaining why the action was wrong, and even telling the child no. Research also shows that spanking does not actually make a child behave, it just stuns the child for the moment …show more content…
Statistics also show that some mental heath problems, social problems, and something called "hostile attribution bias", which means the child expects everyone they come in contact with to expect them to be mean to them, are affects are being spanked (Kovac). Studies also show that corporal punishment had the largest effect on children five to nine because that is the age where a person begins to learn self-control (Kovac). Also, the more a parent punishes a child the more the child is going to have a hard time being able to control the way they act, the part of the brain that is affected is a small part which helps a child learn to be responsible and attentive (Kovac). Spanking when a child is three is linked to the child being more aggressive and liable to hit other children. A 2009 study showed that exposing children to harsh corporal punishment may have detrimental effects on the trajectories of the brain, which has been a linked to depression, addiction, and other mental health disorders (Kovac). “Psychological abuse on its own account can sometimes be linked to a person low self-esteem or low self-confidence” (Mufson and Kranz