Jamie Stroud

Messenger Staff Writer

Hit an adult and get arrested with assault. Hit a parent and get charged with domestic violence. But hit a three year old little child, and get the “best parent of the year award.” How is this even close to fair?

For years parents have been disciplining their kids by spanking them. Just because people have done it in the past does not mean it is right. When someone spanks a child they are weakening their relationship with the kid. Making the child not trust whoever is hitting them.

Many say that spanking kids is a great way to discipline them and they learn to not participate in bad behavior. But that is not at all the case, kids that are spanked have a higher chance of having mental problems, increased aggression, and even not being able to trust people when they become adults.

90% of parents spank their children from time to time. Why is this number so large when their are other methods of disciplining that are proven to work better than spanking? Many parents have been adopting different ways of punishing their kids that do not involve hitting them.

Madison Hernandez’s, parents had a very different way of disciplining both her and her brother. “We had circles drawn in corners and we had to put our hands above our heads until we agreed to get along.”

Hernandez believes that chores are a great way to teach your kids a lesson while being fair. Studies have shown that when kids are spanked as children they have more of a chance to grow aggression.

“The odds of a child being more aggressive at the age of five increases by fifty percent  if they had been spanked more than twice within a month of the study.” Catherine Taylor

Some people say that parents that do it in public are taking it too far. But maybe deep inside parents know that it is wrong so they do it in the privates of their homes so people don’t judge them. Gwen Conlee agrees that sometimes parents do it in private so others don’t think anything bad of them. “They don’t want to be judged on being a bad parent, which is exactly why they shouldn’t do it in private either.”

Claire Breckenridge, a freshman,  believe that spanking is never acceptable under any circumstance, “Spanking scares children and is not helping them at all.”

In response to if spanking has any lasting effects Breckenridge states “It would show them that it is ok to hit people.”

Conlee also thinks that when a parent hits their kid they are undermining trust. “If I was spanked I would resent my parents and it is not fair parenting.”

People that are spanked as kids are more prone to suffer from trust issues and many more mental illnesses. And it shows them that hitting people is ok and and can be used at any time. Sadly the average four year old is hit about 936 times a year! That’s more than once a day, are all of those times really enough to spank a child?

Spanking is also called Corporal Punishment, and has been banned from the homes in over thirty one countries around the world! Why is it still not banned in the US? We need to work together to stop this abuse on children around around the US.