Is corporal punishment ultimately effective?

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

I personally think it's unnecessary. In fact, I'm strongly against it. On the other hand, many people I know think it had a positive effect on them in the long run. In some cases, it effectively instills obedience in children. But it seems like a quick-fix half measure in other cases. What do you think?

[TheGodDamnMaster]

I'm vehemently-against corporal punishment. I see it as an excuse for hot-headed jackasses to let off steam. All it will do is build resentment in the child and that will only lead to more trouble. It's actually still legal in some states and some schools are allowed to use it on their students. It's a primitive and unnecessary practice.

[Chunkyman]

I personally think it's unnecessary. In fact, I'm strongly against it. On the other hand, many people I know think it had a positive effect on them in the long run. In some cases, it effectively instills obedience in children. But it seems like a quick-fix half measure in other cases. What do you think?

It's immoral and a form of child abuse. "It made me a better person" is a cop out, it serves only to normalize and justify the aggression that was inflicted upon you.

 

 

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

 

I personally think it's unnecessary.  In fact, I'm strongly against it.  On the other hand, many people I know think it had a positive effect on them in the long run.  In some cases, it effectively instills obedience in children.  But it seems like a quick-fix half measure in other cases.  What do you think?

It's immoral and a form of child abuse. "It made me a better person" is a cop out, it serves only to normalize and justify the aggression that was inflicted upon you.

 

 

Yeah it seems like lazy parenting and implemented by those too ignorant to actually problem solve with their kids. Not to say that these parents do it out of hate though. Unfortunately, it's still common in many American households. Especially the ethnic ones. The view that corporal punishment = child abuse seems to be a fairly western viewpoint.

[rudy]

Corporal punishment is overrated. Some people seem to think that if we smack the trouble makers around a little they'll behave. The stupidest statement I ever heard from spanking kids' supporter is that if they were allowed to use corporal punishment in schools then the rate of fights would drop. Now, where's the logic in that? They'll most likely get worse from the other guy than anyone would allow the teacher's to do to them.

Corporal punishment doesn't generate conformity, it generates compliance. Granted, compliance is better than nothing, but if someone just changes their behavior to avoid trouble then what's to keep them from reverting back to their old behavior when the forbidding cane is no longer a threat.

 

I think the problem with cp is that most teachers have no ability to project the aura for respect. Giving them the option to fall back on phyisical pain to try and make up for their own lack of ability doesn't seem like the best answer.

Edited June 6, 2013 by rudy.

[.2D]

I know you're all experts and everything, but from the perspective of someone who grew up being physically punished, it definitely put me in line, and in some ways I'm glad that I grew up with it. I'd never replicate it and physically punish my own children, but I thought I'd throw that out there despite how many videos and research reports will be quoted and thrown at me by the internet's finest.

[Whiskey]

When I got a smack for doing something wrong, I never f*cking did it again.

[Clem Fandango]

So are we talking about a smack on the bum, or a crack on the head?

[epoxi]

Hey, it worked on me. It's how I knew what I did wrong was the real deal.

 

Watching people trying to control their children by shouting and using ever emptier threats is frustrating.

Edited June 6, 2013 by epoxi

[Fireman]

So you're all against any type of punishment then?

 

The kids going to be angry no matter how you punish him. I'd rather get a smack than having to hear how much of loser I am and how my parents wish I was never born.

 

Then again, I was lucky enough to get neither!

 

It's easy enough to say: "NO THATS BAD!" And not come up with anything else to replace it with.

[ryuclan]

 

Hey, it worked on me. It's how I knew what I did wrong was the real deal.

 

Watching people trying to control their children by shouting and using ever emptier threats is frustrating.

Yeah I really hate to see kids who need to be told more than once by their parents to do something.

 

Hell if worked for me but a lot of people dont consider that children need to be punished according to what they respond to and not what the parents responded to. Some children are not the kind of children that can be put in line with a little smack on the head and some children do not respond to timeouts or having things taken. It all depends on the child and I think its ignorant to say that one or the other should never be used. Just never let your own emotions get into it.

 

 

Can we get a tally of how old everyone is? I'm very interested to see if the type of punishment supported has anything to do with the times people grew up in.

Edited June 6, 2013 by ryuclan

[blitz]

My dad slapped me on the cheek only once for making my mom cry, I don't remember why but I did. After that he apologized and never did it again. However, I did throw a larger tantrum when he did (I must've been 7) and screamed and shouted at him as he tried to process what he'd just done. It's normally not a way for children to react when they've been smacked but that was my reaction. Anywho my dad has smacked my brothers in their heads when;

 

1. My brother got caught smoking and my dad called him an idiot and smacked him on the head.

2. My other brother was screaming so so so loud (neighbors were calling to complain) when he was like four and my dad just gave him a light pat-like smack on the head that shut him up for a reason.

 

That's it.

[LittleBlueTroll]

When I got a smack for doing something wrong, I never f*cking did it again.

This. My mum or dad never punched sh*t out of me when i was younger, far, far from it. But if i was ever really naughty i would get a smack on the bum and a telling off, and i would never do it again.

[Cosmic Gypsy]

I never got beaten up by my parents, but i did get a smack every now and then, it would have been a hard smack and i remember crying a few times, but it never stopped me from doing what i was punished for again. It just made me dislike my parents at the time.

[arsenal_fan]

My dad never had to use it because I was always intimidated by him as a kid, hell who wouldn't when you have a massive guy with a deep voice pointing a finger at you to knock that sh*t out.

 

 

My mother on the other hand was too sweet, so when she told me off I never took it seriously, so she had to use a wooden to smack me on the bum which would teach me a lesson.

 

 

As long as it doesn't traumitise the child or make them violent then I don't think a little slap on the bum is too bad, I personally wouldn't do it however as I could never hit a child, no matter how much of a little sh*t he was.

[Mister Pink]

I got smacked around pretty badly growing up. First thing I did to remedy a bad fight was smack the other person. I'm not that type so I learned to stop. Now, I'd never do it unless it was defence. I agree with what Rudy said.

 

Getting hit when I was younger broke my morale and my confidence. It made my blood boil and eventually when I got depressed I self-harmed.

 

Happy times.

[Laura91]

 

When I got a smack for doing something wrong, I never f*cking did it again.

Yes. Same here for me. My parents never abused me but I got my ass kicked when I deserved it.

 

Yeah, I hated it at the time but I shouldn't have done some of the stupid sh*t that I did back then.

[RedDagger]

Hm. For me, I can't say I did anything bad enough that would warrant even a slap. If push comes to shove and they aren't responding to verbal orders/threats, then I guess it would be justified if what they're doing is bad enough.

[Secura]

Never happened to me as a child and I'm glad of it, the idea of beating a child for a mistake they've made would logically do more harm than good; I personally can't stand the idea of someone laying hands on a child, someone who for all intensive purposes is weaker, smaller and not as mentally developed as you.

 

People should know better and if there's one thing that modern society seems to look down upon it's domestic violence and abuse and nothing is a more prime example then corporal punishment. The only reason I could see a parent or person resorting to such actions would be the fact that they simply can't control their child and that more than anything is a result of poor parenting.

[Finn 7 five 11]

According to people here, most people who were spanked as kids or w/e will advocate spanking. I was spanked only twice and I advocated it. but I think I would have regardless of whether I was spanked or not. Also when I was 15 my Dad punched my arm because I punched him haha, my arm was purple for like 3 days.

However the same people here showed me some studies and such that proved this sort of punishment did harm to kids, so I don't agree with it anymore.

 

So I think corporal punishment is wrong for pretty much anything. Except that dickhead at the pub who keeps talking sh*t, They deserve to be punched in the face, and generally they would learn a lesson from it.

[GTA_stu]

You can be a great parent even if you smack a little more than most, and you can be a terrible parent even if you never lay a finger on your child. What's more important is the overall parenting, I don't think getting a little physical every now and then, or not, is going to have any major impact in all honesty. If you use it as a constant tool, I think it probably will do more harm than good in most cases. But then if you're having to constantly use physical violence to handle your child, you're probably a sh*t parent in any case.

[Gtaghost22]

it definitely put me in line

Well, that is not particulary the case for everyone else. I personally think its an outdated, ineffective method of desciplining children and way too many parents abuse it. My parents never physically harmed me and I still knew right from wrong growing up.

[A J]

If I have kids and they grow up being obnoxious, I'll blame it on the lack of corporal punishment. I didn't have a very good upbringing but I knew right from wrong, it was wrong when my mother tried to push me down the stairs after drinking too much, and it was right when she slapped me for telling her to f*ck off when I was about 10.

[Killerdude]

Physical punishment is good and bad, If you do it too much it's bad, But do it too little and it's also bad. The new forms of punishment nowadays turns Children into entitled little sh*ts, Because the parents are too afraid to PROPERLY punish their child.

 

The only way to guarentee an end to bad behaviour, Is to beat it out of them.

[Vercetti42]

As a 12 year old it's surprising to see that many people have not got beaten up.

 

My Dad's not really strict but my mum is I don't really get beaten up, though.

[Triple Vacuum Seal]

I've noticed many people who were raised under the corporal punishment regime do tend to defend it for a number of reasons. It "kept them in line", respect (from fear), disrupt stubbornness, etc. While those with the most limited exposure to it tend to have the strongest feelings against it. This also tends to be the case with those I discuss this issue with in person. I used to support it when I was younger, but I pondered its emotional and social effects long and hard to find that it didn't do me much good. It just made my parent's job easier and restricted my expression. It was a very exploitative method of negotiation. After all, establishing and enforcing rules with children is merely a form of negotiation. I just found that many of my friends who grew up without CP now enjoy an exceptional negotiation relationship with their parents as young adults. I can't help but to theorize that this has something to do with them being granted more respect and decency from their parents early on in their negotiating relationship.

 

 

Whether one supports CP or not, we can all agree that harming a child is a damaging and undesirable course of action. What it all boils down to is the fact that kids may turn out great with it and may turn out great without it as GTA_stu pointed out. Therefore, it isn't a necessity when properly raising children. This means that it is merely a crutch used by those who cannot punish their children without it due to ignorance. Ignorance does not morally exempt the parent, but I still maintain that CP-using parents generally love their kids more than anything in this world.

 

 

 

I'm strongly against CP, but I recognize the reality that there are exceptions...

 

For instance, a flick on the lose skin of the earlobe as a toddler was a perfect case of how a little bit of CP went a long way with no harm. The pain was extremely brief, and the flinch alone kept me in line so my father hardly had to carry through with the actual flick. Everything beyond that was unnecessary though. Similar to ThePinkFloydSound's case, any further CP just made me more aggressive and belligerent in school because after getting smacked around by a 6'4" 200 lbs + man as a child, it's pretty hard to fear anyone in your school. Especially the teachers .

Edited June 7, 2013 by canttakemyid

[.2D]

 

it definitely put me in line

Well, that is not particulary the case for everyone else. I personally think its an outdated, ineffective method of desciplining children and way too many parents abuse it. My parents never physically harmed me and I still knew right from wrong growing up.

Nothing is ever the same is it is for someone else. Take into account environment growing up, friends, school, the area you live in. Upbringing's are always different for different people. Everyone knows right from wrong, but are children not notorious for pushing their luck?

 

It's certainly outdated, and certainly wrong. All I'm saying, and judging by this thread I'm not alone or wrong in this, is that it does work, so it's definitely not always as ineffective as you say.

[DeeperRed]

It is the lazy way out, all it does is promote the use of fear for control. The kid has not learnt what he has done is wrong, he has learnt that if he does it, hes going to get hurt. That's how you teach a dog, not a child, it doesn't solve anything.

[.2D]

The kid has not learnt what he has done is wrong, he has learnt that if he does it, hes going to get hurt.

And surely the child realises he's being punished because he did something wrong, and therefore learns that he shouldn't do it? Unless you're hitting a child too young to know right from wrong, then any child should know the difference between outright abuse for absolutely no reason, and punishment?

 

People teach dogs right from wrong by hitting, true, and it definitely works. It's not right at all, but it does work. People and animals learn through consequences, good or bad.

[DeeperRed]

Just because a child knows it was wrong to do something, doesn't mean they know why it was wrong. I find it just lazy that instead of implementing guidance, showing why something is wrong you just hit them. For example: If a kid doodles all over the wall with a crayon and you just hit them, you haven't made the message clear. The kid saw a blank canvas and decided to let out some inspiration, is it annoying as f*ck that its all over the wall yes so you give him a stern talking too. You explain that its good to be creative, to express but you teach that vandalism is wrong, how would he like it if you went and draw sh*t all over his toys etc. Getting a child to realize they are not only wrong, but why they are wrong is far more powerful then hitting them. Even if you give them a good talking to, you still used fear and pain for control. Just because something works doesn't mean its right.