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- The practice of hitting children teaches them to become hitters themselves.
Extensive research data is now available to support the direct correlation
between corporal punishment in childhood and violent behaviour in the teenage
and adult years.
- Punishment gives the message that "might makes right", that it is okay
to hurt someone smaller and less powerful than you are. The child then feels
it is appropriate to mistreat younger or smaller children. When they become
an adult, they feels little compassion for those less fortunate or less powerful
than they are.
- Children learn best through parental modelling. Punishment gives the message
that hitting is an appropriate way to express one's feelings and to solve
problems.
- Punishment greatly interferes with the bond between parent and child, as
no human being feels loving toward someone who deliberately hurts them. Punishment,
even when it appears to work, can produce only superficially "good" behaviour
based on fear.
- Anger that cannot be safely expressed becomes stored inside. Anger that
has accumulated for many years can come as a shock to parents whose child
now feels strong enough to express their rage.
- Spanking can be physically damaging. Blows to the lower end of the spinal
column send shock waves the length of the column, and may cause a subdural
hematoma. The relevance of lower back pain among adults may have its origin
in early corporal punishment.
- Many parents are unaware of alternative approaches, so when corporal
punishment doesn't accomplish the parent's goals, they can easily cross the
line into child abuse.
- Corporal punishment distracts the child from the problem at hand as they
become preoccupied with feelings of anger and revenge. It teaches the child
nothing constructive about how to solve problems and how to handle similar
situations in the future.
- One of the most serious problems with corporal punishment is that the more
a parent uses it, the more they have to use it. The child becomes immune to the
punishment, and the parent stops looking for any other solution.
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