by Rachel Howells

Created on: June 19, 2009   Last Updated: February 16, 2010

To spank or not to spank can be a touchy issue for parents. Sometimes the line between a parent's right to discipline a child and a child's right to be protected from abuse is ridiculously obscured. Claiming that a swift spanking on a toddler's bottom for touching a hot stove is physical abuse is as ludicrous as claiming that never spanking a child will produce a spoiled, undisciplined drain on society. However, no matter what side of the debate you are on, there are several good reasons why children should not be spanked.

Aggression and Anxiety

Children who are physically disciplined on a regular basis are at a higher risk of exhibiting aggression and anxiety. One culturally diverse study involving more than five countries published in the journal, "Child Development (Volume 76, November 2005)," found that children who were subjected to spankings as a primary form of discipline were significantly more likely to display aggression and anxiety. This was true across the board, regardless of cultural norms.

A similar conclusion was arrived at in another study conducted by Tulane University researcher, Catherine Taylor. She looked at aggression in 3-year-olds who were regularly spanked and compared the data to children who were not subjected to physical discipline. She found that the children who were spanked were twice as likely to display excessive aggression two year later.

Technically, spanking is striking another person and striking is by definition aggressive and violent. When one considers that children learn from what they are exposed to, it stands to reason that frequent spanking increases the probability of aggressive behavior. The aggressive nature of striking or spanking someone should not be minimized just because that someone happens to be a diapered toddler.

The threat of physical force produces anxiety in most human beings regardless of age, race or gender. When children are routinely spanked for every conceivable disciplinary issue, it creates a sense of anxiety within them. They learn to fear the threat of a spanking itself, rather than learn the lesson the spanking is intended to teach.

Empathy Impairment

Spanking does not teach children why a specific action is unacceptable. As a consequence, what the child really learns is that it is okay to strike someone when they do something he or she does not like. It teaches rigid thinking. It does not teach children to critically weigh contributing factors, which are inevitable in virtually any circumstance,

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