T.Hernandez (Edison)-Spanking or Child Abuse…

Spanking has been one of many controversial discipline methods for the past ten years or more. Twenty years ago spanking a child was never an issue. It was the form of discipline used when the first few warnings didn’t work. Twenty years later by many it’s considered abuse. Every parent should have the right to discipline their child as they see fit (to an extent), so why is it that people think when you spanki your child you’re abusing them? One one side of this debate there are parents who believe it’s okay to spank their children & on the other side their are those who think a child should not be spanked because it’s abuse. In between are the parent’s who believe spanking should be used in certain instances (such as running in the street). The American National College of Pediatrics stated, “Spankinh is oksy when used properly.” So what’s the problem?

The problem is that many parents have gotten out of control when it comes to disciplining their children so much to the point that the government has to tell us how we are “allowed” to discipline our kids. For example The Baby Grace tragedy that occurred in 2007 where a 2yr old toddler was beaten to death because her stepfather was trying to teach her manners. Because of incidents like this, The Department of Children and Families (our child welfare system) has the right to remove children who are in determined to be in imminent danger.

According to the Florida Status (civil code) 415.503, harm to a child’s health or welfare can occur when the parent or any person responsible for that child inflicts, or allows to be inflicted upon the child’s physical, mental, or emotional injury. Factors that must be considered in evaluating any injury to name a few are: prior history of injury, location of injury, multiplicity, and type of trauma. Such injuries include but are not limited to “willful acts” that produce the following injuries. Sprains, dislocations, cartilage damage, bone or skull fractures, burns or scalding, intra cranial hemorrhage or injury to other internal organs suffocation or drowning.

Anyone can listen or visualize this, willingly admit that those definitions are indeed abuse and decipher the difference between that and spanking. Webster’s dictionary of spanking is to hit on the buttocks with an open hand and in my opinion, a nice wooden spoon will do the trick. Overall, spanking depends on how it is applied and when it is being administered in a reasonable manner is not abuse. So why then is it that when you spank your child it’s considered abuse? Because some parent’s are really out of control and abuse their children with the intent of harm. That is child abuse however, it does not justify doing away with spanking children if it is done properly and for the right reasons.

This entry was posted on 28. July 2010 at 06:42 and is filed under Introduction to Sociology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.