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, before casting judgment on a person or situation. This then poses a risk to the emergence of empathy, which is an important cognitive milestone in childhood.
Spanking children because they bite or snatch toys away from other children does not give the message that you should not do these things because they are hurtful to another person. The message children do get is that they should not get caught doing these things because they will be physically punished by an adult. Not doing something because of fear does not instill empathy; it instills anxiety and resentment.
Ineffective in the Long Term
Proponents of spanking like to say that it is a quick and effective way to deal with difficult or dangerous behaviors, particularly in very young children who cannot yet be reasoned with. The problem with this is that while a lengthy explanation or punitive time-out may simply be beyond a young child's comprehension, the same can be said of spanking.
Spankings may initially make a toddler give back a toy, stay away from a hot stove or stop drawing on the walls. However, in the long-term, spanking is ineffective because it does not address the underlying causes of the behaviors parents find difficult. A spanking does not take into account that some of the hard to handle behaviors parents have to deal with in the early years are normal from a developmental point of view.
For example, young children are driven by a natural curiosity that compels them to explore and learn about their environment. When that curiosity is consistently met with physical punishment, it not only creates anxiety and hinders the learning process, it also teaches children to be sneaky and dishonest. They will still want to scribble on the wall or touch that shiny stove, but they learn that they have to be sneaky in order to get away with the behavior without being hit.
This situation can lead to a feeling of chronic tension within children. On the one hand they do not want to be spanked, but on the other hand they have an instinctive urge to explore the world using their senses, as well as test out basic concepts such as cause and effect. Spanking children is not going to take away this instinct. What spanking can do is make children doubt themselves, which negatively impacts their budding self-confidence.
Spanking also does not take into consideration that some aggressive behavior in early childhood is normal. Young children do not always have the cognitive and verbal skills to adequately convey their feelings and frustrations. Tantrums, biting and pushing are often the result of a child’s cognitive immaturity, especially during the toddler and preschool years when children are more likely to be spanked.
Children who are afraid, tired, treated unfairly, hungry or dealing with separation anxiety might throw a tantrum or hit someone because they do not know any other way to express their emotions. Responding to these kinds of aggressive behaviors with more aggressive behavior in the form of a spanking sends a confusing message.
Furthermore, it is common to see disruptive behavior in children who frequently witness marital discord or domestic violence. Dealing with troublesome behaviors by means of corporal punishment only exacerbates the underlying feelings of insecurity and increases unwanted, aggressive behavior in children.
Risk of Physical Abuse
The act of spanking a child can be prematurely ignited by parental frustration and irritation that has nothing to do with the child. Parents who believe in spanking may already be worried or stressed out by something well before their children act out. When the child does commit some minor infraction or normal, albeit annoying, behavior, it fuels that pre-existing tension and the parent loses control. This loss of control sets the stage for potential physical abuse.
Ultimately, spanking is not an ideal way of disciplining children because it sends a conflicting and demeaning message. It is a confusing and painful lesson that vulnerable children are forced to accept at the hands of those they love and look up to the most.