Discipline Methods

Stephen D. Whitney conducted various studies researching the way in which pediatric practitioners rated several disciplinary measures in terms of severity along with that of abusive tendencies. Within his studies, to no surprise, he found that today’s practitioners found the questionable disciplinary methods to be more severe than practitioners had in previous studies. This is precisely because more and more people are beginning to notice that the ways in which children have been punished in the past are in more cases than not, extreme and unnecessary. In both Whitney’s research and that of other researchers studying methods of discipline, it was “found that physical abuse and sexual abuse were rated as being most severe across all of the …show more content…
The majority of people would claim that individuals who purposely inflict injury on their children are terrible people who do not in any way care about the well-being of that child. Elizabeth T. Gershoff whom studied at Duke University, School of Law argued against this specific stereotype. After studying the behavioral patterns of parents convicted of child abuse, she said “What these findings make clear is that most physical abuse is not inflicted by a sadistic parent whose behaviors are not contingent on the child 's behaviors; rather, most physically abusive events begin as corporal punishment intended to discipline a child but that escalate to the point of injury” (Gershoff). This statement implies that with the laws of corporal punishment being vague and allowing unnecessary abuses, it is not always the fault of the parent disciplining the child, in many cases the law’s inadequacies are to …show more content…
Many people feel that children under the age of three should not be faced with the usage of corporal punishment, but yet at the same time believe that it is okay for slightly older children to be subjected to such discipline. Kristin Collins Cope conducted various research in which she surveyed parents as to whether or not they would support the ban on all physical discipline towards children under the age of three. “Only one-third of those surveyed said they would support a ban on physical punishment of children under three, and the committee found of those who currently smack [children under three], there was little evidence that parents would greatly modify their behavior in response to a ban" (Cope 175). Although there are many individuals who abuse the use of corporal punishment, one has to keep in mind the handful of those that do use it as intended. Despite the laws being vague and generalized, it is made apparent that the purpose of corporal punishment is to teach the child a lesson, not to cause intentional injuries to the child. If used correctly, parents with children under three should still be able to administer a spanking to their child within reasonable force. Therefore, these findings further indicate that the laws of corporal punishment should be modified, not completely