SPANKING: TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE

Read this article on spanking your children before reading the rest of this blog post.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100412/hl_time/08599198101900

I only got through half of this article before I had to stop and gasp for air from laughing so hard. I didn't even finish the rest of the article because of it's stupidity and lack of reasoning. Let me start off by saying, as a 21 year old female, when I did something wrong or misbehaved I got a spanking. Never the belt, but it ranged from my mothers hand (hehe sorry mom but it never hurt :)) to a wooden spoon to the bamboo stick my sister Allison broke (yes in the middle of a spanking). But never did I have aggression, nor my sisters, have aggression problems by the age of 5.

My first issue with this article is the fact they only studied 2,500 children. 2,500 is not enough to provide serious reliable evidence, they should have tried for more like 25,000 kids and then i'd actually give real credit to the study.
Secondly, a study at DUKE University, let me repeat myself, DUKE UNIVERSITY, said kids who were spanked within the first year of their little life scored lower on cognitive tests by the age of 3. You're really blaming spanking for dumb kids? Come on!! from 1 year to 3 years is a big step in a child's life, they're learning everything in site, developing motor skills, beginning to understand the concept of human reality and human relations, and DUKE UNIVERSITY says these kids scored lower because they were spanked? Hmmm.. doesn't sound quit accurate does it? Maybe these kids scored lowered because they have other issues, such as mental disorders, learning disabilities, or maybe they just down right don't develop as quickly as other 3 year olds. But mostly i'd attribute it to the parents of these children. What did these parents do for their children? did they help them learn with Reader Rabbit and flash cards, teach them baseball outside to develop better motor and coordination skills? Or did they just let them sit in their crib all day long watching lifetime movies while their parents, either worked, smoked crack or neglected them while doing laundry and other house hold chores? I'd say it was probably the latter that caused these children to score lower on their cognitive tests by age 3, not spanking. Besides, think about it, how does spanking a child affect their ability to recognize a ball as a spherical shape called a ball, or color as a color? That's right it doesn't.

Lastly, like I said I couldn't even finish this article because of its poorly studied subject, my final thought about children who were spanked at least twice a month by the age of 5 had a 50% higher aggression problem. Really? What 5 year old doesn't have a selfish nature? Maybe their selfish tendencies were misconstrued to be aggression. When my sisters and I were 5, let me remind you we all were spanked as children, we all had selfish problems, when I took Allison's Barbie from her, what'd she do? She'd probably hit me and take it back. I wouldn't call that aggression, I'd call it being sisters at age 5. We were selfish, and what's mine was mine and no I wont share it. There's no real evidence showing that spanking is related to aggression in children. Of course out of the three proposed ideas, this one could actually have some validity, but I'm not thinking by a 50% increase.

Now before I finish this, I must say one more thing. In the beginning paragraphs of this article, it says you are better off with giving your child a time out rather than a spanking. It actually says " Instead the AAP supports strategies such as "time-outs" when children misbehave, which focus on getting kids to reflect on their behavior and the consequences of their actions." I would really like to meet a child that is sitting in time out that's thinking to his or herself saying "hm, maybe if I had just shared my G.I. Joe/ Barbie I wouldn't have to be in time out. Time out is a consequence when I don't share and play nicely. Maybe I shouldn't take back my toy next time someone steals it." I dont think so. I think a child realizes that they are separated from their play group but do they really know what for? Better example of when to use spanking over a time out. When you're at the mall or in any public place for that matter, let's say a restaurant. You, your spouse and two children are out for dinner. One child is 5 and the other is 3. The 5 year old reaches for a roll off the table and tosses it on the floor making the 3 year old laugh. So the 5 year old does it again, producing more laughter. Next the 3 year old take a roll and does the same thing. You continually tell your children to stop and move the rolls after from each but because you have now removed their rolls the 5 year old grabs his napkin, then his fork, then his macaroni dish, causing a scene and a mess on the floor. As you grab your child's arm telling them to stop they begin screaming!.. What now?! You pick the child up and take it into the other room, the child is still hysterical. At this point you are so embarrassed and frustrated, stop and think, will a time out really work at this moment? Probably not. So resulting in the ulterior choice, you spank your child. In a case like this a time out wont calm and hysterical child down, it wont even get them to stop and think about stopping the hysteria but a spanking will shut that kid right up. I'm not talking a beating, but a decent spanking will do.

Think about it. what would you do?

I know I dont have children of my own but I remember myself and my sisters as kids and the mess and aggravation we caused our parents. My question is how much worse off would we be had we not be punished through a spanking? Time out's wouldnt have worked for us. I can guarantee it.