Smacking Children: No evidence it improves behaviour; probably worsens it.

[Power Raid]

The reality is that some people are born awful. And if parents have tried everything and in frustration smack their child, then so what? It's not the end of the world.

I know it may not have been the emphasis or context you meant but parents should not hit out of frustration (perhaps you meant last resort).

Dad would ask me to get a belt and no matter what belt I got, it was too thin or too thick for his liking. This in hindsight was a tactic to calm down and roll out discipline in a measured way.

but I think we all know parenting is not easy and parents need all tools available to manage their duty.



one thing I would advocate for all parents and govt is free child care. Regardless of whether you are working or not, child care should be free to provide parents the opportunity to work and time out from their kids.

 

[coerced]

I know it may not have been the emphasis or context you meant but parents should not hit out of frustration (perhaps you meant last resort).

Last resort, of course. If a kid is a little psychopath (and these kids do exist) what do you do?

 

[Gough]

That smacking usually ceases when the child is big enough to fight back speaks volumes. If it's such an effective deterent, why stop then?

 

[coerced]

That smacking usually ceases when the child is big enough to fight back speaks volumes. If it's such an effective deterent, why stop then?

Once you are large enough, if you act up in public the police will come along and smack you with a greater threat of force than your parents are ever capable of.

 

[JackOutback]

Smacking is almost never measured, reasoned and well thought out; it's usually born out of anger, frustration or fear. Responding to those emotions in front of your children with violence will almost certainly send the wrong message.

 

[Kyle_Broflovski]

Last resort, of course. If a kid is a little psychopath (and these kids do exist) what do you do?

Kids aren't naturally born psychopaths. They become that way from external influences. Look at any out of control kids and you'll see the sort of crap they've had to endure. Without the right help, the only way these kids can deal with their trauma is to act out.

 

[coerced]

Kids aren't naturally born psychopaths.

Is there any evidence for this? The tabula rasa argument is pretty fanciful.

 

[Run n Spread]

Yes lets take a defenceless child just starting out in the world and expose them to violence at less than 5. That is sure to improve behaviour.

 

[Sydney Bloods]

smacking is not about education its about control, it relies on the notion that the child is too stupid to have things explained to them in detail and be taught to act properly. i'd suspect there's a fairly large cross over between people who believe telling a 5 yr old "because i said so" is a sufficient explanation as to why certain behaviors are unacceptable and those who rely on smacking to discipline children.

on rare occasions i can see how a parent is at the point where a smack is required, many people argue back forth pointlessly about whether its really warranted. they miss something critical, HOW DID IT GET TO THIS POINT.

unless your a psychopath, you should never want to hit your child it should always be considered an undesirable outcome, something which should be avoided whenever possible. and yet i've never heard a parent who says they "felt it was necessary at the time" actively trying to find out how things reached that point. nor trying to find out what can be done moving forward to reduce the chances of things spinning out of control again. many react with defensive responses or outright derision at being offered parenting tools to assist them in the future.

 

[Kyle_Broflovski]

If you really want to feel the urge to bash your head against the wall, talk to anyone born before 1950 about smacking. It'll do your head in.

 

[fleabitten]

If you really want to feel the urge to bash your head against the wall, talk to anyone born before 1950 about smacking. It'll do your head in.

I was born in the 70s and pretty much everyone I know got a smack on the arse when they were out of order. I know the "we all turned out fine" argument holds no weight with the anti-smackers, but...yeah.

 

[Gough]

It wasn't just the kids that got belted in the seventies, others copped their fair share too. Just because we turned a blind eye back then, doesn't mean we should now.

 

[fleabitten]

It wasn't just the kids that got belted in the seventies, others copped their fair share too. Just because we turned a blind eye back then, doesn't mean we should now.

Huh? I think you're comparing naughty kids getting a smack with...civil rights marchers getting the water hose, etc? Massive leap.

And no-one was turning a blind eye. If a kid was being a s**t, it was expected that he'd probably cop a clip behind the ears from mum. It was more likely to be seen as bad parenting if they didn't than if they did.

Feral parents with wild kids just deciding to randomly hit them when they've been pushed too far...I doubt that does any good. Same with parents that go to physical punishment as their first option. But some of the worst behaved little brats I've ever encountered had parents who didn't believe in corporal punishment.

 

[Kyle_Broflovski]

From personal experience, I've been on the receiving end of a belting. Looking back, some of those beltings were for acts that justified them (I did some pretty stupid peer pressure stuff). Other times, I felt a belting was pretty extreme.

I remember getting a massive belting for a bad report card. At the end of it, I stood there thinking "Really?"Of all the things to be belted over?

 

[Lebbo73]

From personal experience, I've been on the receiving end of a belting. Looking back, some of those beltings were for acts that justified them (I did some pretty stupid peer pressure stuff). Other times, I felt a belting was pretty extreme.

I remember getting a massive belting for a bad report card. At the end of it, I stood there thinking "Really?"Of all the things to be belted over?

Fair enough. You shouldn't of been such a lazy ****!

 

[Chief]

I was born in the 70s and pretty much everyone I know got a smack on the arse when they were out of order. I know the "we all turned out fine" argument holds no weight with the anti-smackers, but...yeah.

There are some people out there who turned out plain old weird but claim "fine" status.

In any case I've talked about my own experience as a kid: on the few occasions our parents hit us it signaled to us that we had gotten the better of them. They had no better response, and we generally just pretended to have gotten a message but it made our parents lesser in our eyes.

 

[fleabitten]

There are some people out there who turned out plain old weird but claim "fine" status.

True of both spanked and non-spanked people, I would imagine.

 

[skilts]

True of both spanked and non-spanked people, I would imagine.

Non-spanked people, unlike those who are spanked, tend to not be advocates for spanking

 

[fleabitten]

Non-spanked people, unlike those who are spanked, tend to not be advocates for spanking

Okay maybe, but they can still be weird and think they are fine.

 

[Lester Burnham]

Smacking is almost never measured, reasoned and well thought out; it's usually born out of anger, frustration or fear. Responding to those emotions in front of your children with violence will almost certainly send the wrong message.

You are probably correct. But it has always been this way. The relationship between a parent and a child is a frustrating business because there will always be conflicts of interest between the two. And to a large extent parents have control. Humans are not rational, especially parents. Society responds to indiscretions by acts of state violence.

 

[JackOutback]

You are probably correct. But it has always been this way. The relationship between a parent and a child is a frustrating business because there will always be conflicts of interest between the two. And to a large extent parents have control. Humans are not rational, especially parents. Society responds to indiscretions by acts of state violence.

As a society, we seem to be maturing: the death penalty is off the table, corporal punishment is banned in state schools, smacking is discouraged and in some places criminalised. Responding to indiscretions with acts of physical violence is in the decline.

 

[medusala]

Does the study prove a cause and effect relationship?

There is a very well known positive correlation between child abuse, criminality and then abuse of their children. That a study shows beltings don't work would be no great surprise to anyone. However, how do you define the difference between smacking, hitting etc? It's all a bit arbitrary. Ask the parent and the child and you may well get two different responses ie was it a good hiding or just a smack?

 

[Kyle_Broflovski]

Fair enough. You shouldn't of been such a lazy ****!

It's "would HAVE"not "would of", slick.

 

[Lebbo73]

It's "would HAVE"not "would of", slick.

Good for you

 

[Kyle_Broflovski]

Good for you

Grammar isn't a difficult thing to comprehend, sport.