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Spanking is a very common method of punishment that parents use to enforce discipline on children. Many of today's parents were spanked as children and almost 90% of them have spanked their children, as well.

In some cultures, spanking is considered the best method of punishment, while in others, like the Scandinavian countries, it is illegal to hit a child. Organizations around the world, like the United Nations (UN), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), advocate eliminating corporal punishment because it is a violation of human rights and it doesn't work as some people think. The mission have brought a significant success. Many countries in Europe and South America passed laws that made physical punishment illegal. Unfortunately, the United States is not one of them.

Discipline means to teach or give instruction and refers to helping children to learn self-direction and self-control. It is proven that spanking, even when successful at first, becomes not only less effective with continuous use, but causes serious problems in child development.

Kids learn by imitating and observing their parent's behavior, good or bad. They assume that if it's acceptable for their parents to hit, it must be OK for them to hit others, too. As a result, they become aggressive. Also, a parent that spanks his young child abuses his position of power. Most likely, he wouldn't think of spanking a teenager for the fear of revenge. That makes him no different than a bully. Bullies usually pick a victim that is small and weak. By hitting their child, parents really train him to become a bully. Many violent kids are spanked at home on a regular basis. Violence breeds violence. This also suggests that if light spanking doesn't work, a parent might punish their child more harshly. Hitting could become a habit and eventually result in a serious injury.

Physical punishment does not teach a child what they should or shouldn't do. Rather than hitting, parents should explain how to solve a problem. Generally, young children do not behave badly on purpose. They just don't have the experience to know how to handle a particular situation and try to figure it out on their own. That's were many parents, who spank, fail in raising their kids. They expect their child to do something right without providing him with all the necessary instructions. And when he doesn't meet

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