As of 2003, in Australia it is legal to physically hit your child as long as it does not involve the use of an object and you do not hit them above the neck. Do you think this is right?
Physical punishment has been psychologically proven to DECREASE children’s internalization of proper behaviours. In other words, when a child does something bad and they are spanked for it they don’t stop doing the behaviour because they learn that it is wrong, they stop doing the behaviour for fear of getting hit. While one may think this is ok because at least they’re stopping the behaviour, the problem is that if adults aren’t around to hit them, then what will stop them from doing the behaviour then? In order for children to learn a set of values to be able to function on their own in the world, they need to be reasoned with and taught WHY certain behaviours are unacceptable.
In addition, if a child is repeatedly physically punished by an adult, this can lead to the child wanting to AVOID the adult. If they avoid the adult (most likely the parent), then the parent will have fewer opportunities to teach the child, not to mention the child-parent relationship will suffer.
We’ve all heard the claims that the media is teaching children violence. That kids live in a world where they are increasingly surrounded by violence, teaching them that it’s a normal and acceptable behaviour. Movie and violent video games are blamed for this, but what about what they’re being taught in the home? A proven psychological theory known as modelling, indicated that young children learn by imitating the actions of their parents and other adults. If their parents deal with disobedience by physically punishing them, they are in fact teaching children that violence is a way of getting others to comply with what one wants, this has become known as the imitation of aggression hypothesis.
If all these proven, logical reasons weren’t enough, what about the moral implications of purposefully inflicting pain on another human being? It is illegal for a husband to hit his wife, or for a grown child to hit their elderly mother, so why is it legal for a parent to hit their child? Are children any less human? Do they not deserve the essential human right to remain free from harm? In fact since they are so much more vulnerable and unable to defend themselves, it would seem they deserve even more protection under the law, not less!
Countries around the world have already banned the use of physical punishment on children (ex. Sweden), I think it’s time for Australia to do the same!
How do I know this?
Bandura. Aggression: A social learning analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Durrant, (2008). Physical Punishment, culture, and rights: Current issues for professionals. Journal of Developmental & Behavioural Pediatrics, 29, 55-56.
Hoffman (1983). Affective and cognitive processes in moral internalization. Social cognition and social development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
