I have talked about why corporal punishment, or spanking, should be erased from our society. Now, a NFL player, a star kids look down too, took corporal punishment to the next level, by leaving bruises and cuts. While some people thinks this type of punishment is acceptable, most people are calling this as going too far. Mr. Peterson was indicted on child abuse charges after spanking his 4 year-old son with a tree branch. The spanking went way too far and I don’t agree with what Charles Barkley said when he said spanking is a culture down in the South. It’s time for the South to get away from spanking for good!
Spanking is something you expected as a kid if you did something wrong, back when there were no other appropriate ways to punish your child. If spanking is okay, why there are other forms of punishment where bodily harm is caused, banned in America? We don’t hang people anymore, we don’t cane people like they do in other countries, we don’t even force people into a harsh live of slavery, spanking is inflicting bodily harm on someone, and it’s archaic, and wrong!
In the South, many people are heavily involved with church and the Bible. And yes, there is a verse in the Bible that says “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” (Proverbs 13:24). Even though the Bible says spanking is okay, society has changed. Some adults have a tough day, and might have anger issues. If their child does something wrong, that adult is going to take out their anger on their child, via spanking. This is exactly what happened with the Adrian Peterson case, he took out his anger on his child, and the results were ugly.
Some kids have even been murdered because their parent had a lot of stress and anger built up in them, and they inflicted their stress and anger on their children. Today corporal punishment, or spanking your child, is against the views of The American Academy of Pediatrics. Spanking your kids also makes them more likely to be poorer, angrier, sadder, dumber, more violent, and more likely to suffer from mental illness and be incarcerated than his spanked counterparts. Also corporal punishment has the undesirable quality that the more you use it, the less effective it becomes.
Here is another consequence of spanking, it causes the children being spanked to more likely become violent, as violent behavior begets violent behavior. Think about it, a four-year-old can barely distinguish between right and wrong, between cause and effect, between his or her home and the whole world. When you spank a young child, the child might think that hitting another person is the only way to correct a wrong, to make something right. Also, when you hit a child by spanking, the risk of child abuse raises by three times, and by nine times if an object such as a belt is used. See, some parents will release their stress and anger on their child, which causes the bruises and cuts.
People who believe in spankings thinks their child will remember the pain and embarrassment and they will listen and obey. I think the opposite is true, when a parent spanks their child, the child will become scared of their mom or dad, and the family relationships becomes more strained. I was abused as a child by a parent, and I have not talked to that parent in over 13 years! Spanking only re-enforces the belief that violence is the only way to resolve things? So does the child who is hit will think hitting their lover, friend, relative, co-worker, or other people will be the only way to resolve things, this will land that person in jail.
For the ones who believe spanking is right, The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a directive in 2006 to call physical punishment “legalized violence against children,” and has urged the practice to be eliminated through the legal and educational process. Thirty countries on Earth has banned corporal punishment, and multiple studies have said that spankings causes severe physical and psychological damage. Parents have a duty to protect their children, causing physical and psychological abuse by administering corporal punishment must end for good.
If this makes me one of the most unpopular southerners, than so be it! Folks in the South and the rest of America, spanking and corporal punishment is outdated, and is child abuse, plain and simple!
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