{"id":2423,"date":"2002-06-26T14:33:54","date_gmt":"2002-06-26T19:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=2423"},"modified":"2002-06-26T14:33:54","modified_gmt":"2002-06-26T19:33:54","slug":"papa_spank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/06\/26\/papa_spank.html","title":{"rendered":"Papa spank!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study condemns spanking<\/a> as a viable punishment for children.<\/p>\n

The psychologist, Elizabeth Gershoff, found links between spanking and 10 negative behaviors or experiences, including aggression, anti-social behavior and mental health problems. The one positive result of spanking that she identified was quick compliance with parental demands.
\n“Americans need to re-evaluate why we believe it is reasonable to hit young, vulnerable children, when it is against the law to hit other adults, prisoners, and even animals,” Gershoff writes in the new edition of the American Psychological Association’s bimonthly journal.<\/p>\n

The study is accompanied by a critique from three other psychologists, which says that “mild to moderate” spanking is effective, especially between the ages of 2 and 6, but may be dangerous for adults with “abusive tendencies.”<\/p>\n

Well, duh.<\/p>\n

I can speak, anecdotally, from my own experience, that spanking was, in fact, an effective deterrant and an effective behavior-modifying punishment. My parents did not spank me much, but when they did, it drove home the lesson they were trying to teach.<\/p>\n

The fallacies in Gershoff’s analogy are, first, that spanking, as a punishment, is not the same as “hitting” an adult or a prisoner, or an animal. If you use the same force, or even the same technique, in striking an a child as you do an adult, then, yes, I’d agree you’re being inappropriately abusive. And hitting adults (or prisoners) is usually done to physically subdue them, which is not the same as why adults (rational ones, at least) spank kids.<\/p>\n

And, yes, using a riding crop, or a cattle prod, or even whapping Fido’s nose with a rolled-up newspaper, is still a valid way to modify an animal’s behavior. If that’s all you use, or if you sit there and whip the poor beast bloody, no, that’s not right. Ditto for children.<\/p>\n

But I don’t have much compunction about giving Katherine a swat on her (padded) behind if she’s just run out into traffic after I shout, “Stop”. Or giving her a little flick of the finger on top of her hand, or on her ear. Not to injure <\/i>her, and not to express my <\/i>anger, but to make it clear that such behavior is not acceptable, and will have unpleasant consequences more than Daddy bellowing in that loud, funny voice of his.<\/p>\n

The issue is moderation and appropriateness. Maybe that’s too hard a lesson for most people to grasp these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study condemns spanking as a viable punishment for children. The psychologist, Elizabeth Gershoff, found links between spanking and 10 negative behaviors or experiences, including aggression, anti-social behavior and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3641,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/10\/14\/spanking.html","url_meta":{"origin":2423,"position":0},"title":"Spanking","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Oct-02 2:02pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Nice analysis by Eugene Volokh on this FoxNews story about the Horrors of Spanking. If Madelyn Toogood delivered that same beating to anyone other than her own child, her actions...","rel":"","context":"In "Parenting"","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/parenting"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9376,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/19\/smacking.html","url_meta":{"origin":2423,"position":1},"title":"Smacking","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 19-Jul-06 10:02am","format":false,"excerpt":"I was raised in an era where corporal punishment (spanking) was much more prevalent, even expected, than it is today.\u00a0 While our present discipline with Katherine doesn't include spanking, I...","rel":"","context":"In "Parenting"","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/parenting"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/guidetosmacking.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5881,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/05\/no_spanking_ple.html","url_meta":{"origin":2423,"position":2},"title":"No spanking, please – we’re British","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Jul-04 9:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Britain's House of Lords has put new limits on corporal punishment of children in the UK by their parents. 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It was offered up for grabs briefly, but somenoe...","rel":"","context":"In "My Computer"","block_context":{"text":"My Computer","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-computer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27201,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/22\/sounds-like-she-was-too-stupid-to-serve-well-anyway.html","url_meta":{"origin":2423,"position":4},"title":"Sounds like she was too stupid to serve well, anyway","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 22-Mar-12 8:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"I do hope she does serve some modicum of time, or at least get a hefty fine. 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