UNITED STATES
Boston Globe
By Kara Baskin and David Mogolov
GLOBE CORRESPONDENTS FEBRUARY 06, 2015
When I was a kid, my parents spanked us sometimes, but never much. Now that I have kids, I’m starting to think about spanking (everybody has an opinion — even Pope Francis, who says spanking is okay as long as children are not “demeaned”). I’m kind of on the fence, to be honest. Is it OK to spank?
David: In our house, kids don’t get hit or spanked, and I think that’s becoming more and more common.
The world is moving rapidly away from corporal punishment. Thirty-three nations have outlawed corporal punishment, according to the Gunderson National Child Protection Training Center. While the US isn’t one of them, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires all members to “take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence,” which seems to obligate us to end the practice.
I know many parents believe in spanking, and that they see it as a traditional and effective method of discipline. Every time corporal punishment makes the news, people invariably say, “I was spanked, and it didn’t do me any harm.” Just look at the comments section or tweets related to any article about Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s abuse charges for evidence of this.
But I’m not convinced. The science behind corporal punishment is resoundingly anti-spanking. “The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly opposes striking a child.” This is the beginning of the organization’s statement on physical punishment. The American Academy of Child & Adult Psychiatry’s statement says, “Extensive research demonstrates that although corporal punishment may have a high rate of immediate behavior modification, it is ineffective over time, and is associated with increased aggression and decreased moral internalization of appropriate behavior.” So not only does it cause anguish, it’s ineffective.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.