I had to write something argumentative as part of my English studies and thought it would make a good post.
Smacking is good for children
The argument for smacking children is an ongoing battle between the disciplinarians and the liberal minded who oppose it strongly.
The case for smacking is that it instills a sense of authority, from the parent to the child serving as a line in the sand, a point at which the child knows it has behaved in a very negative way. In my own experience as a member of a family with four siblings, all of whom were born within a relatively short space of time; I remember there being many occasions when my mother lost her temper and was very frustrated. At one point my mother had 4 children under the age of 5. I can remember many times when the slipper would be produced to reinforce a request to desist from any number of activities in which I, or my brothers were engaged. When I think back, I cannot recall any physical pain, nor do I feel any psychological effects. My mother’s use of smacking came more from a sense of urgency, the fact that she had to manage 4 children, and get them to the various places we had to be, like school or a doctor’s appointment. I know that she didn’t treat it as her “go to” method of parenting; it was always after asking several times.
However smacking is not always seen in such an affirmative way. Smacking can be assessed as simply being a physical and violent act from one human being to another. In pure terms it negates the way we normally communicate with one another and is not an example to children of good behaviour. It could be taken that this is the normal way to behave, which is surely a bad thing. It’s not useful for a child, who may already know that he or she has done wrong, to receive a smack from their parent. It is widely accepted that this can lead to feelings to low self esteem in later life. This is to be avoided. It is unthinkable that parents would inflict pain on their children, they should be treated with care and they should understand that their actions have consequences; these should not be in the form of smacking. Parents need to realise the implications of their actions; It is their responsibility to teach guidelines of acceptable behaviour through experience of their own. In addition, discussions of why certain behaviour is unacceptable would instill a greater understanding between both parties. Many children’s only memories are that of being constantly smacked and chided for not being a “good boy/girl”. This often comes without truly understanding what the definition of this is.
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