A Wake-Up Call for Parents Who Smack Their Children!

Psychiatrists, sociologists, parents, and teachers are advocating against using any forms of physical discipline or violence against children, yet even in advanced nations in regions such as North America, mild physical punishment is still deemed necessary. If we, as humanity, have rejected violence against each other, do we not consider children as people who also deserve protection? And in encouraging violent disciplinary, aren’t we just encouraging children to become hitters too?

By setting aside sentiment and relying on data alone, children who have grown up experiencing violent behavior are significantly more likely to exhibit these examples as teenagers and adults. You would be high strung to find a criminal that has not suffered from violence as a child because children model their attitude from the examples they witness around them. Inversely, outside of some cerebral and psychological defects, children who did not face the anvil of punishment rarely resort to violence.

Most parents fail to diagnose their children’s bad attitude; when acting out, they could simply be trying to express their neglect whether it’s for sleep, nutrition, exercise, personal freedom and even for their parent’s undivided attention that is mostly like being diverted elsewhere in today’s stressful lifestyle. Children often lack the maturity to properly vocalize their sentiments, so they resort to bad behavior and end up being punished, setting forth a vicious cycle.

Love is an enduring feeling, especially the love parents and children, have for one another, but the human constitution was not designed to nurture affectionate feelings for those who inflict pain. Even if punishment seems to be effective, it is likely to only an act that does not truly express the inner workings of the children. Instead, they will grow up thinking that force is the means of asserting one’s will, and as a result, hurt others.

The last reasoning explains why so many teenagers morph when they get older because they start feeling as if they finally have the ability to resist and fight back. Nothing comes out of the blue, so

whatever manifests has been brewing inside for years. This repressed rage is just an expression of whatever has accumulated into their inner core, and it’s when the parents have to pay the piper for all those years of punishment.

One of the unforeseen backlashes of violence is that it halts the learning process. Children will be so focused on thoughts of retaliation that they will be unable to properly focus on figuring out a peaceful resolution for any issue. With repetition, children will no longer even think about resorting to peaceful and constructive methods for conflict, and it goes a long way towards explaining the uncontrolled bursts of aggression we witness in violent offenders.

Spanking is a preferred method for punishment because the buttocks are firmer than other body parts and less likely to cause too much pain. However, it’s a highly erogenous area and could lead children to associate with pleasure and pain. It’s especially bad in children who misbehave to gain their parents’ attention because they might start equating love with punishment and grow up to have low self-esteem believing they deserve nothing better than to be degraded.

Parents think that just because they do not use too much force, they will not physically hurt the child. Often, even the most moderate spankings can be dangerous. Children have sensitive constitutions, and even a slight spank accidentally applied to the spine, can cause spinal injury. A slap might send a child to the ground and cause them a serious damage. There is no predicting the consequences of whenever a strike is given.

There are multitudes of other punishment methods that have been developed by parents and experts alike that rely on positive reinforcement instead of violence. They might require more effort, but they eventually shape the core of children instead of just soliciting their outward compliance. No one ever said raising a child is easy, so anyone who signs up for it needs to buckle up and face the music.