Spanking, harming the brain?
February 7, 2012
You may have read the article today (click HERE) about the numerous negative factors associated with spanking:
Research shows that physical punishment makes children more aggressive and antisocial, and can cause cognitive impairment and developmental difficulties. Recent studies suggest it may reduce the brain’s grey matter in areas relevant to intelligence testing. “What people have realized is that physical punishment doesn’t only predict aggression consistently, it also predicts internalizing kinds of difficulties, like depression and substance use,” said Durant. “There are no studies that show any long-term positive outcomes from physical punishment.”
Surprisingly, no references are given in this article to the “mountains of evidence” against spanking. And, what this article failed to mention is that spanking is good for the parent’s grey matter. Personally I was spanked as a kid. My parents spanked lovingly, consistently, and appropriately. I’m pretty skeptical that a little smack on the tush can harm the brain’s grey matter.
To me, there are real issues not addressed in the article such as:
- Spanking to train and discipline a child versus spanking in anger.
- Rather than prohibit it based on excessive force used by some parents, look at it as a reasonable way to control children.
- And then there are the Scriptures. A study of the word ‘rod’ in the book of Proverbs reveals numerous references to using something other than one’s hand to discipline children.