Parenting Blog

Spanking or hitting children is an age-old punishment that is under debate now more than ever. While many professionals say that reasoning with a child is more effective in the long term and less hurtful to parents and child, many parents insist that spanking is a necessary evil and not doing so only encourages bad behavior. Americans are so divided on this issue that roughly half are opposed to physical punishment and the other half support it. The fact that many of today’s parents were spanked or hit as children only complicates the issue. Most can recall the emotional pain of being hit, but many of them make peace with these sad memories by pointing out that they’ve grown up to be healthy, well-adjusted adults.

Is there any proof that physical punishment is damaging to children? There may not be a way to know for sure, but we can explore the issue by looking at Sweden. In 1979, Sweden banned physical punishment for children. Professionals who have examined the behavior of young people since the ban was passed say that behavior has actually improved and happiness has increased among Swedish youth. They also attribute the significantly lower number of violent acts that take place in Sweden (as compared to the United States) to the decrease of physical violence as a means of discipline. Children are taught that hitting is wrong, and so when parents use it as a punishment for bad behavior, it causes confusion and resentment on the child’s part. “Too many parents think that children don’t register spanking as an act of violence,” says Jesse Morgan, a graduate student of child psychology in Michigan. “They think that spanking doesn’t actually hurt the child. In reality, the physical and emotional pain of the act is all the child remembers.” Professionals today even insist that spanking and hitting teach children that violence is an acceptable form of problem-solving, citing that children who are spanked often show greater aggression than those who are not. It seems that the popularity of physical punishment that peaked around the baby-boom generation is now on the decline. “I was punished physically as a child and I still resent it,” says Morgan. “The feelings of hurt and humiliation are as strong today as ever before. It was those feelings and memories that first encouraged me to explore child psychology. I knew that something just wasn’t right.” Though it seems the momentum of the debate is on the opposing side, until a ban like that in Sweden is passed in the United States, it’s up to parents to decide for themselves.