Should Parents Spank Their Children?

Parenting can sometimes be a very strenuous job. It is a blessing to have a child, yet raising a well brought up kid carries a lot of responsibility. There are so many dilemmas that parents face during this demanding road and still, there are so many different opinions about proper nurture. Should a parent be strict or easy going? Should parents spank their kids or not? The latter is the question that is being discussed in this essay.

While there are many parents who are against spanking, there are also a lot of parents who think that spanking is the most effective way to teach a child lesson. Every parent is a role model for their own child, thus spanking promotes aggression in younger children. From the time babies develop their abilities to mimic, they imitate everyone they are around. If you hit the table, even eight months old baby will imitate and hit the table back. My one-year-old son repeats my every action and every word. Mostly children spend all their time around their parents and adopt their values and behaviors. Due to this, parents should be very careful around their children because without being aware of the situation, parents can promote certain undesirable actions. Spanking promotes aggression in children and by displaying such actions; parents are acting as bad role models since children think that their parents act the right way. A recent study was carried out and it showed that kids who were spanked as five year olds turned out to be more aggressive later on and break more rules. Spanking teaches them that the stronger one can hit the weaker one and get what he wants. This can be displayed when children fight over toys.

It is true that children can frustrate their parents very frequently and parents search in desperation for ways whichever come to hand. Evidently, spanking is one of the ways many parents use to teach their children. Spanking is not an effective method of teaching a lesson to the kid, but rather a short-term solution. Spanking can only be used by parents who don't think about long-term psychological effects and are illiterate. Spanking makes it more memorable for the child to remember the pain, so that he doesn't do it again. However, the child does not properly understand why he shouldn't act in a certain way but rather behaves out of fear. He continues to behave properly till the time he remembers the physical pain and sometimes he even doesn't stop making the same mistakes. The child just tries to act more carefully, so that he doesn't get caught this time. It would be much more effective if children were explained what's right and what's wrong. Instead of being a long-term solution to bad behavior, spanking leaves a long-term effect in aggression.

There are many varying opinions about how children should be disciplined and even much more books. However, even the books will not guide you properly in this path. Every child is unique and he/she reacts