Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Christian Punishment?
Elizabeth Landau’s CNN piece http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/16/spanking.children.parenting/index.htm examines the social implications of using corporal punishment to discipline children, especially those from low income families. Over 2,500 toddlers (12-36 month old) participated in a Duke University study that sought to provide a link between aggression and corporal punishment. The article goes on to note that “spanking is most commonly used among parents who were spanked themselves, who live in the South, and/or who identify themselves as conservative Christians”. The study found that children spanked as one year old's were more aggressive two year old's and tended to perform at lower cognitive levels than their peers. In an apposing view, Robert Larzelere, a professor of human development and family science at Oklahoma State University, finds that spanking children between the ages of 2 and 6 is the best method of discipline.
Southern Conservative Christians are identified as one of the groups most likely to use corporal punishment to discipline their children. This seems to be a generalization that may stem from that particular group’s public declarations of their dedication to use biblical theories to inspire their family, social, and political actions. Spanking children is a legal act in the United State, but abusing children is not. The Duke study infers that there is a link between a child being spanked and later perpetuating physical violence.
I don't believe that parents who choose to spank their children are necessarily motivated by their personal religious leanings. Most parents choose to discipline their children physically because they, themselves were disciplined similarly and consider spanking to be the most effective method. I am from the South, but I am neither conservative, nor particularly religious. Yet, when I begin my family, corporal punishment will be implemented at the appropriate times. Corporal Punishment sounds so harsh, and brings to mind images of a child being tied to a pole and a mother wearing an Army uniform, whipping a child senseless. Spanking should have parameters. Popping hands and bottoms with an open hand is perfectly acceptable to me. Talking to a child as if he were an adult, attempting to reason with someone who has 2 years of reasoning experience, is not acceptable. An exception would be made in a special case where a 2 year old has the reasoning of an adult thinker. I remember being spanked as a child. The few times that this occurred, I had behaved in direct defiance of my parent’s direction and a 12” wooden ruler named “Mr. Brown” promptly found the back of my legs and arms. The memory of the fear and physical pain that Mr. Brown bestowed upon me came to mind any time that mischief presented itself to me. Spanking was not related to the religion of my house, it was about establishing practical actions and respecting authority. I think of the many teens today that were only exposed to time-out and verbal warnings, many of whom treat their parents as their peers and have no concept of authority. They seem to be totally unaware of potentially disastrous effects of their various misdeeds. These kids were not referred to in the Duke study, but they should have been. “Aggressive” teens, with no fear of retribution, are nothing compared to aggressive Conservative Christian toddlers at day care.
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