by Cheryl Johnson

Created on: August 05, 2009

Short answer: There are more effective and respectful ways to parent that don't involve striking a child.

Long answer:

I used to be in the pro-spanking camp myself, but the more I researched, the more I realized that spanking is a practice that can't really be defended.

First, there is no other context in our society in which we hit another person to teach or even to warn them of danger. This is a common argument used to defend the practice of spanking. Let's take an elderly person with Alzheimer's, for example. A person with Alzheimer's needs someone to take care of them and protect them because they are unable to do those things for themselves, much like children. Yet we don't slap the hand of an Alzheimer's patient when they reach for a hot stove or when they do something unsafe. Why? That would be disrespectful. What do we do? We keep them away from dangerous situations and steer them back to where they should be if they do veer off. What makes it less disrespectful to slap a child's hand for doing something dangerous?

Another popular reason spanking is touted is that many people believe it's mandated in the Bible, that in order to be good Christian parents, we must spank our children. This is a huge stumbling block for many people, myself included. But when you look closely, you see that there are really just a few verses in the book of Proverbs that seem to condone the practice. And on these few verses, we've based an entire method of discipline? The Bible speaks of the rod of discipline in Proverbs. However, the shepherds didn't hit their sheep with their rod; they used it to guide them. Isn't it just possible that we've taken the five or six verses in Proverbs too literally?

We need to look at the overall context of the Bible and at what we know of Christ. New Testament verses command fathers to not provoke their children to anger, to not embitter them. If you look at Jesus Himself and how He treated children, you will see that He gave them respect when others did not. When the disciples were trying to shoo the children away, Jesus scolded them and told them to allow the children to come to Him. He loved them. I really do not believe that He would advocate treating children like second-class citizens or disrespecting them.

A third defense that crumbles upon examination is that spanking is effective. Sometimes in the short run, it certainly can be. But there are other methods that are just as effective or even more so, and they

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