Parents Spanks Their Child example essay topic

Abuse?? According to a May 2001 article in Parents magazine 67% of the American population condones spanking as a regular form of discipline. Also, 67% say they would oppose a law prohibiting spanking at home and says that only 17% would support it. According to advice columnist and family psychologist John Rosamond, "Many parents are becoming frustrated with the very weak forms of discipline du jour advocated by 'psychologically correct' experts. He also says "More than 90% of children raised in the 1950's and early '60's were spanked and we don't go around hitting people when we don't get our way".

While I was visiting a friend recently, she told me about her most recent visit to the doctor with her two-year-old daughter. She told me that she was trying to get her daughter ready to leave after the appointment was over and her daughter would not quit playing with the toys which were in the doctor's office. After several minutes of struggling with her daughter to get her coat on, her daughter turned to her, said "no, mom" and then her daughter proceeded to slap her across the face. My friend put her daughter over her knee and gave her a quick swat and told her that she was not to treat her mother like that. After seeing this, a nurse came over to my friend and told her that if they ever see her hit her daughter again they would call the Department of Children and Family Services. This situation is not all that unfamiliar to me these days.

I hear of parents in similar situations almost every day and sometimes I actually see it with my own eyes. For instance, I was in Wal-Mart a few weeks ago and witnessed a woman tell a father that she was going to report him for child abuse because he grabbed his son's arm and yelled at him for taking off and running through the store. Apparently the father had turned to look at something on the shelf and when he turned back around his son was gone and the father was paged over the store intercom to come and retrieve his son from across the store. In my opinion, that child was lucky that his father hadn't given him a spanking right in the middle of the store.

When I was a child my father would have given me a real whopper of a spanking for pulling a stunt like that in a store. Whose right is it anyway to tell a parent that they cannot spank their child for misbehaving? It is really nobody's business but the parent of that child. I have no ill feelings towards my parents for spanking me.

Actually, I thank them very much because that was what I needed to remind me that they knew best. If they hadn't spanked me from time to time, I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today. Not only are my parents proud of me but I am proud of myself. Situations like the ones above have caused more parents to lose control of their children out of fear that they will be punished for punishing their children. I personally know parents who have tried alternative methods of "behavior management" to no avail. My brother, for instance, tried the time out and taking away things, and even throwing toys away if the situation was severe enough.

He even had his children hold things above their head while standing in the corner to try and make it work but it didn't. What more do these people want from parents? There is only so much parents can do that really works for their child. How are parents suppose to make their child stand in the corner if there isn't enough time for that, especially if they are in the middle of a store or some other public place. I find it odd that a court can sentence parents to jail time if they do not make their child go to school but will also take that same child away from the parents if the parents spanks their child for not going to school or behaving properly. How are parents supposed to enforce the rules when they cannot give their child the punishment he or she needs for breaking the rules?

I understand that there are parents who go overboard with physical punishment and I believe they should be reported, but where do you draw the line? It seems that everyone's definition of abuse is different so how can we decide what is too much? The consequences for breaking the rules / law are not frightening enough for young people. In the past, the main structure of consequences was as follows: while in grade school, children were spanked for misbehaving and then, as they got older, alternative consequences took place such as restricting them. In other words, it went from spanking when they were children to grounding them when they became teenagers. Nowadays children are grounded at much younger ages and then by the time they become teenagers they are used to it so that is not a negative enough consequence for them.

They often view getting grounded as no big deal. The same people that threaten to turn parents in for punishing their children are the same people that wonder why when the news stations report that our jails are over crowded with juveniles. Is it really that hard for to figure out? To be quite honest, people need to mind their own business and leave the parenting to the children's parents who know what works for their child. My friend, whom the nurse threatened to turn into the Department of Children and Family Services, told that nurse her address and told them to send out whomever they wanted. My friend's comment on the situation was " If I can't raise my child the way she needs raised then they might as well take her away from me".

I say "Hurray for her!" If I were a parent I would have said the same thing myself.