Spanking Final Draft 1

Why Spanking Works
As a kid I got in trouble quite a bit for the things I did wrong. My parents had different
consequences for me when I did something wrong, but the most common consequence was a
spanking. Spanking is a consequence that is effective for younger children but not as effective
for older ones. It would be more effective to spank your five-year-old for kicking his sister
because it would teach him that is bad, whereas if you spank your one year old, they wouldn’t
understand why they got spanked. Proverbs 22:6 says to, 'raise up a child in the way he should
go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it.' I believe that when the Bible tells us to
raise up a child it means to discipline and correct them. I believe spanking works, but many
people are anti spanking, they believe that spanking is abusive and wrong. In this essay I will
explain what age group is best to spank your kids, why it is not abusive, and how it is a good
way to train your child.
Spanking is a good consequence, but the age of the child will determine how much
they learn from it. Jared Pingleton, (2014) a clinical psychologist and director for Focus
on the Family, said, 'Properly understood and administered, spanking is most effective as
a deterrent to undesirable behavior for younger preschoolers (but never for infants).
That’s because reasoning and taking away privileges often simply don’t work with kids in
that age range. As children age, spanking should become even less frequent as other types
of consequences are utilized. Spanking should be phased out completely before
adolescence.' He is telling us that spanking is a good consequence for younger children,
but as the child gets older the consequences should change. Let’s say you have a sixteen-
year-old son and he is being disrespectful. A good consequence could be taking his phone
away; if he was seven, a good consequence could be a spanking. Not only could spanking
depend on age it could also depend on what they did. If you had two sons and son #1 hit
son #2 then an appropriate consequence could be a spanking because it shows the 1 st son,
the pain his brother went through. But if son #1 lied to you then a spanking could be a
consequence but there could also be different consequences such as hot sauce, this could
be a good consequence because it teaches him to stop lying because he feels the pain in
his mouth.
When you spank your kid in a loving way it is not abuse. How do we know the line
between abuse and not? Amanda Rock (2020) a mom of three and professional writer said, 'So,
is spanking an effective way to discipline children? Advocates say that giving a child a smack on
the bottom sends a strong message and will curtail any future infractions on the part of the child.
Opponents say that it borders on child abuse and that it really doesn't work. Which is right?
While it is a personal decision and one that should be made depending on what works best for
your family.' Rock is telling us in this quote that people who are for spanking say spanking is a
good way to discipline your children, whereas people against spanking say it is child abuse.
Spanking is not child abuse. The Weber dictionary says the definition of abuse is, 'cruel and
violent treatment of a person or animal.' Spanking your child because they are disobeying is
different than beating them because you are mad for no reason. If your kid just hit you, then that
would be a good reason to spank them. If you are mad and frustrated for some reason and your
kid accidentally broke something and you started spanking them that would be more on the
abusive side.
Spanking helps train your child to do what is right. We even see verses in the Bible that
are pro-spanking, take Proverbs 23: 13-14, 'Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike
him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.'
Hebrews 12:11 also gives an example, 'For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than
pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by
it.' We see that the writers of the Proverbs and Hebrews verses are sharing how the discipline
may be painful, but it gives us gifts after a while. They aren't gifts you get right away; they are
gifts that develop over time. When I was younger, I got spanked quite a bit, and now I am seeing
the gifts that has left me with, now I am more obedient, and patient than I was back then.
Spanking is a good discipline because it can help your child grow into a more obedient
person. As we see spanking is good for certain ages. It’s kind of like a dog, they are easier to
train and teach as a puppy, likewise a child is easier to teach and train at a younger age. We see
many times where the Bible tell us to spank and discipline our children. Although many people
think spanking is wrong and abusive, we can see that if used in the right situation it is a good
thing.
Works Cited
Pingleton, Jared, and Focus on the Family’s. 'Spanking Can Be an Appropriate Form of Child
Discipline.' Time, Time, 16 Sept. 2014, https://time.com/3387226/spanking-can-be-an-
appropriate-form-of-child-discipline/
Rock, Amanda. 'Hitting an Appropriate Form of Discipline?' Verywell Family, 14 May 2020,
https://www.verywellfamily.com/spanking-children-2764636

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Why Spanking Works

way to train your child.

of consequences are utilized. Spanking should be phased out completely before

adolescence.' He is telling us that spanking is a good consequence for younger children,

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