Spanking has been the way of discipline for many years, but in reality it is child abuse. Spanking, also known as corporal punishment, to me is any kind of negative physical contact to a child with the intention to cause pain as a way of discipline. Anything from a pat on the butt, to the use of a belt or paddle on a child, or a smack on the hand or mouth can be considered spanking. Child abuse is violence, and "violence is an act carried out with the intention, or perceived intention, of causing physical pain or injury to another person" (Straus 7). The intentions of both spanking and violence are to cause pain and the only difference is that violence also covers acts of injury. So, are parents actually teaching their children …show more content…

They may also develop fear of the person that is spanking them, and be confused when they are hurt by someone they love. This may also make the child not want to be around that person. "Children are more likely to do what the parents want if there is a strong bond between parent and child and each spanking chips away at that bond" (Straus 153). Spanking may seem to fix the situation, but really it only fixes it temporarily. An alternative punishment could produce a long term effect. When a child is spanked after doing something wrong, they may be caught off guard and directly focus their attention on the pain that they have just received. The pain from a spanking only lasts for a short period of time and they may not realize why they received that pain because they were only thinking of the pain. As an alternative, if parents take something away or put them in time out for something that they did wrong, they will have time to think about what they have done. This will also teach them that the next time that they are going to do something wrong that there will be consequences. Sometimes a child will try to get their parents attention by behaving in a bad way, even if it will result in a spanking. That's why a child repeats the behavior, because they know that they will get attention from their parents even if it is negative