Posted: September 16th, 2017

Corporal Punishment as Child Abuse?

Living in this day and age of self-awareness of ones right, one wonders what the place of discipline of children is. Today, if you discipline a child, that is considered child abuse. Children’s Rights agencies will gladly descend on you with the full backing of the law. Children themselves are much aware about their rights that a parent may be fearful of what to do with them when they misbehave lest they pull the line “I know my rights!” on them. However, where exactly do we draw the line between discipline as corporal punishment and discipline as child abuse? Doesn’t corporal punishment really help?

Corporal punishment commonly referred to as spanking, is an age old form of instilling discipline into children. It is a discipline measure that has practiced across all cultures. If children from different backgrounds were to meet, regardless of their differences, spanking   would be one of the few things they would have in common.

Nevertheless, different cultures prescribe to different forms of punishment. In Africa, if a child did a mistake, probably the first thing the parent would think of is the cane. In the west, however, parents tend to dialogue a lot with the children. Spanking comes as a last result of consistent disobedience of the child.  One school of thought would argue that all they knew was spanking and they turned out well so why shouldn’t they spank their children? Another school of thought would argue that spanking did them a lot of harm and they wouldn’t want to go down the same road with their children. Where exactly does this reasoning emanate from?

  1. Anti-Spanking.

According to Strauss & Donnelly (2005: 3-7) corporal punishment is one’s use of physical force on a child to control their behavior (qtd in International Journal of Business. p. 1) The anti- spanking campaigners argue that spanking yields no results. On the contrary, it leaves one with more problems due its adverse effects on the child.  Apart from the physical pain that is inflicted, a child is left with emotional baggage that they have to deal with. Dr. Naz et al. argues that corporal punishment has adverse effects on the child (pp.5-6). Among these is poor participation of the student in class, self pity, violence tendencies and in extreme cases, death.  This school of thought recommends other forms of discipline such as reasoning with the child, giving warnings, time out and brie isolation.

  1. Pro-Spanking.

Many parents who spank their children would state categorically that they do it simply because they love their children and would want them to be better people in the future. This is illustrated by Larzelere. R, who urges parents to discipline their children within the confinements of love (p. 1).

The first thing one wonders when they come across an undisciplined child is who their parent is. No one under normal circumstances would desire to raise rowdy children. It is a parent’s joy when they are commended for having raised well- behaved children.

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Most people that are for spanking base their action on the holy word. “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him (New International Version, Prov.13:24). Parents are further urged, “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope, do not be a willing party to his death” (Prov. 19:18). Hence, the bible recommends spanking as a form of discipline.

In addition to this, some form of misbehavior can only be dealt with through corporal punishment. If a child stole from a supermarket today and you as the parent got to know about it, the kind of discipline measure you take against the child will go a long way in shaping their future. If you opt to talk to the child or send them to their room, the message you are sending across is that stealing isn’t a big deal. Later when the child ‘graduates’ to being a fulltime robber, you as the parent will have yourself to blame. On the other hand, spanking sends the message across that stealing is an unacceptable behavior that must never be repeated. Children are like animals who if subjected to certain conditioning, they break a particular way of doing things, switching to a new way as suggested by Debi and Michael Pearl (p.1). Hence, when spanked, they change to model children.

It is important to make the distinction between corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure and it as child abuse. There are limits when it comes to disciplining a child. A parent, guardian or whoever is in charge of disciplining ought to have boundaries. They should know what level of discipline will not be equated to abuse.  A parent must never allow their emotions get the better part of them as they discipline their children. One can question a parent’s motivation behind their actions. Some that have turned out to be abusive parents is because they themselves were abused when young and this becomes their way of venting out their anger. This should never be the case.

Children’s organizations such as UNICEF play a major role in ensuring that children’s rights are not infringed upon. They ensure that   children have access to basic needs such as food, shelter clothing and education. Hence abuse is when a child is denied any of these rights as a way of punishing them.  Any parent found denying their children these rights should face full force of the law. In sensitizing children about their rights, such organizations should also remind them the need to respect and obey their parents. They should be made aware that failing to do what is expected of them calls upon the parent to take up the rod if need be. Hence, their rights aren’t there to shield them from getting the required discipline.

In conclusion, corporal punishment shouldn’t be used as the only form of punishment. It compliments non-corporal punishment. Thus, the burden lies on both the parent and the child. The child ought to be obedient to the parent at all times.  This minimizes the need for the parent to spank them. As for the parent, they need to find the balance between love and discipline.

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