Is it ever justifiable to spank your child?

[VBM]

It’s definitely debatable how effective of a punishment spanking is (I think it’s probably pretty effective for pre-adolescent kids), but imo it’s pretty ridiculous to say that it’s never morally acceptable no matter the context

[Long Live The King!]

I generally lean against spanking, but so many people have been conditioned to use it as a form of discipline due to mainstream culture (eg, their parents did it to them or they aren't aware of any other alternative forms of discipline). I guess it's not really 'justifiable', but what if you don't know any better?

[VBM]

I generally lean against spanking, but so many people have been conditioned to use it as a form of discipline due to mainstream culture (eg, their parents did it to them or they aren't aware of any other alternative forms of discipline). I guess it's not really 'justifiable', but what if you don't know any better?

I feel like it’s pretty instinctual to use proportional levels of violence as a means of discouraging undesirable behavior

[Flats the Flounder]

I generally lean against spanking, but so many people have been conditioned to use it as a form of discipline due to mainstream culture (eg, their parents did it to them or they aren't aware of any other alternative forms of discipline). I guess it's not really 'justifiable', but what if you don't know any better?

I'm generally with you here. My parents never got spanked, I never got spanked, I have no intention of spanking my kids if I ever have them. The way I see it, you hear about people who got spanked growing up and did not want to do the same thing to their kids, but you never hear about people who didn't get spanked deciding to start spanking their kids.

Not to mention that spanking is illegal in multiple countries and you don't hear about any widespread behavior crisis there. If anything, the kids in those countries seem more well-behaved than here.

[vitoNova]

I received plenty of beatings as a kid, and turned out fine.  

[dead0man]

as with many issues, the extremes are wrong and ruin the conversation.  On one side you have the "any physical pain purposefully caused by a parent to a child is abuse" and the other side, which you won't hear argued in public very often, certainly not a message board with active mods, "if'n I want to beat my 17 year old with a belt because he didn't cut the grass exactly to my liking I will, 'cause its my gawd giv'n right, just like Jesus and George Washington intended".  But in the real world, most spanking is done with love as a behavior correction tool.  Is it the best tool?  Science says probably not, but it is a tool, and it can be effective, at least in the short term.  And if it keeps Johnny from running in parking lots for a few months, isn't that enough?

Yes, it teaches children that you can use violence to solve problems and some people have a problem with that.  But it's not like spanking somehow proves that violence is the only answer and there are some problems that can only be solved with violence.

[Cokeland Saxton]

No, of course it isn't. Spanking teaches a child that it's ok to hit people when you're angry. It's sad how many of you voted yes.

[dead0man]

No, of course it isn't. Spanking teaches a child that it's ok to hit people when you're angry. It's sad how many of you voted yes.

so you're ok with spanking a child when the parent isn't angry?

[America needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

No

[Sic Semper Tyrannis]

IIRC all actual studies on the subject show that spanking is ineffective and bad for kids.

[Drop Billionaires, Not Bombs]

I tend to refer to this chart:



It's ineffective and can cause long-term damage. My parents tried spanking once and it didn't work, so revocation of TV privileges became the default punishment afterwards. If violence is ever justified, it's when all nonviolent options have been exhausted. I can't imagine this being the case very often between a parent and their child.

[Adjective-Statement]

Excising myself from the debate altogether by not having kids, but it's often done excessively and breeds up anxiety more than discipline.

[President Johnson]

No, other than self-defense.

[Sic Semper Fascistis]

Never justifiable, but sometimes understandable because parenting isn't easy and sometimes people are just overwhelmed. However if it becomes a recurring pattern or reaches a certain pain threshold it turns into child abuse.

[C r a b c a k e]

I think this specific debate may be the most combustible (beating other thorny debates like circumcision or Palestine), because people get very inflamed at their implication they are either spoiling or abusing their children (or their parents spoiled or abused them). Certainly I don't see the pro spanking rhetoric ("if that teenager had been hit with a slipper a few times, he wouldn't be delinquent now") to match with reality, where juvenile criminals often come households where domestic punishment is practiced.

In all honesty, I see far more of a logical argument for judicial corporal punishment of adults (for white collar crimes and anti social misdemeanors) than domestic or school based punishment on minors.

[dw93]

Only if all else fails, and even then it isn't a decision I'd make lightly and there would certainly be a great deal of restraint.

[Averroës]

It is never justifiable when done in anger.

There's plenty of evidence that it's possible to raise children well, in every sense of the word, without resorting to spanking. It's hard to defend the practice without appealing to personal experience or specific contexts that the academic literature doesn't speak to.

So, with all of that said, it's tempting to say that it's never justifiable, full stop. But I'm not willing to go that far, especially as someone who doesn't yet have firsthand experience raising children.

Here's why: The idea that spanking is inherently harmful also isn't that well supported by academic literature. Nor is it supported by my personal experience.

Spanking as an occasional punishment was something used in almost every household in my social context when I was growing up. It was scary and traumatizing only when doled out by adults who used it as an excuse to whale on kids in anger (moreover, those adults couldn't be trusted to stop at spanking).

Having experienced both types of "punishment" firsthand, I don't think it's fair to compare spanking, used solely as a predictable consequence delivered by an adult who maintains control over their emotions, with that kind of abuse.

[patzer]

I don't support child abuse, no.

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

It can be, but 1) it should not be used carelessly and 2) shouldn't be used for the sake of it being used.
There is a legitimate place for psychical discipline should one seek to use it. Discipline is important; how it's dispensed is a subjective value judgement.

[Mine the Strait]

Never justifiable, but sometimes understandable on certain occasions when a kid does something truly reprehensible that sets the parent into a fit. If you hit your kid in a rare moment of sudden anger, that's forgivable. What I find unbelievably creepy is the passionless way that some conservative parents apparently dole out physical punishment, as if it's just another chore.

[VBM]

Never justifiable, but sometimes understandable on certain occasions when a kid does something truly reprehensible that sets the parent into a fit. If you hit your kid in a rare moment of sudden anger, that's forgivable. What I find unbelievably creepy is the passionless way that some conservative parents apparently dole out physical punishment, as if it's just another chore.

What if it’s a last resort punishment? For example, let’s say you ground your kid and/or take away their tablet, and they respond by yelling and crying nonstop to try to get you to suspend their punishment. Would a light spanking be justifiable in that circumstance?

[VBM]

IIRC all actual studies on the subject show that spanking is ineffective and bad for kids.

Do you know the methodology that they used in those studies? I’m having a hard time imagining an ethical study that could be performed to definitively prove that spanking is never ever an  effective punishment. Also, what age ranges were they looking at? Obviously spanking wouldn’t be an effective punishment above the age of 8 (most parents who do use a relatively rare spanking as a form of punishment do so at the age of ~3-7 since kids that age are too dumb to be reasoned with in many cases but smart enough to understand that their behavior is what caused the spanking and that they’ll be spanked again if they repeat said behavior).

[Dr. MB]

It's deeply weird at the minimum

[VBM]

It's deeply weird at the minimum

90+% of parents throughout history have spanked their kid at least once

[Dr. MB]

It's deeply weird at the minimum

90+% of parents throughout history have spanked their kid at least once

Mine never did and it's becoming a lot less common these days as people are generally more peaceful and less violent than before.