Spanking Your Child - Is It Really That Bad?

Everyone knows that their experiences and upbringing while they were young is a crucial building block to becoming who they are as a person today. Therefore, it is understandable that parents worry about whether their style of parenting is the right one, and whether it would do more benefit or harm to their precious little one. One of the biggest controversy in bringing up children is whether spanking should be used. I’m sure all of us remember the days where we try to run from our parents’ wrath, be it a cane, slippers, hangers or even belts. Looking at how we’ve all grown up, how bad is spanking really?

The Answer Is, It’s Pretty Bad

For those of us having grown up with spankings, we grew up in an environment that didn’t know any better. In fact, spanking negatively affects various child developmental aspects like their IQ as well as social and language skills.

Why?

Corporal punishment, which is what spanking is classified as, causes chronic stress on children, which can affect their development and learning. Some children even end up with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms due to the stress of being punished. These symptoms actually leads to reduced IQ.

What else?

Instead of improving their attitudes, corporal punishment actually does the opposite. Studies show that children who are spanked tend to rebel and experienced increased anti-social behaviours, aggression, mental health problems and cognitive difficulties. If you think about it, how many of us ended up acting out or even find different means to avoid getting spanked when we were younger? Personally, I had friends who actually found the canes that they were spanked with and thrown them out of the house and out of reach from their parents. It in no way encouraged them to improve their behaviour or conform.

So what’s the right way of teaching your kids?

• Positive reinforcement

• Use play to teach lessons

• Allow kids choices instead of giving them commands

• Let children express their feelings so they can learn to control them

• Encourage your children to describe their feelings

• Allow some negotiation of limits like bed time, play time etc

• Stay calm when you children have done wrong and explain to them why it’s not right

With these tips, it would not only make your child a lot happier, it would also be a less stressful environment for the parents themselves. Find out how celebrities like Amber Chia and Azura Zainal handle being parents with Motherhood.com.my’s Supermom series by clicking here. For the best deals in maternity and baby products, visit Motherhood.com.my now!