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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (68680)	12/26/1999 1:45:00 AM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I am not at all surprised that 90% of American parents use spanking as a disciplinary technique, because the way we parent is learned behavior. I do think your statistics are a bit out of date, however. Several articles I read have stated that the percentage of parents who spank is declining slightly every year. Did you actually read the article you cited? The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend spanking; in fact, it is quite negative about the practice: <<The following consequences of spanking lessen its desirability as a strategy to eliminate undesired behavior. Spanking children <18 months of age increases the chance of physical injury, and the child is unlikely to understand the connection between the behavior and the punishment. Although spanking may result in a reaction of shock by the child and cessation of the undesired behavior, repeated spanking may cause agitated, aggressive behavior in the child that may lead to physical altercation between parent and child. Spanking models aggressive behavior as a solution to conflict and has been associated with increased aggression in preschool and school children. 17 Spanking and threats of spanking lead to altered parent-child relationships, making discipline substantially more difficult when physical punishment is no longer an option, such as with adolescents. Spanking is no more effective as a long-term strategy than other approaches," and reliance on spanking as a discipline approach makes other discipline strategies less effective to use.19 Time-out and positive reinforcement of other behaviors are more difficult to implement and take longer to become effective when spanking has previously been a primary method of discipline. A pattern of spanking may be sustained or increased. Because spanking may provide the parent some relief from anger, the likelihood that the parent will spank the child in the future is increased."' Parents who spank their children are more likely to use other unacceptable forms of corporal punishment." The more children are spanked, the more anger they report as adults, the more likely they are to spank their own children, the more likely they are to approve of hitting a spouse, and the more marital conflict they experience as adults."' Spanking has been associated with higher rates of physical aggression, more substance abuse, and increased risk of crime and violence 22 when used with older children and adolescents.>> I think talking about passing a law against spanking is an excellent way to get the public's attention on this issue. It is interesting that there is a movement in Canada to do so. Several American communities are considering similar laws. Your goal is to prevent governmental intervention in the family; mine is to rear children without inflicting pain on them. Since we have different goals, it is not surprising that we have different ways of achieving them, as well.