Do You Spank Your Child?

Spanking children is generally not a good idea. While spanking may stop a child in his tracks, you can't be sure what he has learned from the experience. A child might feel that he is unfairly punished. He might resent the person who spanked him; he might think that he isn't loved or might even harbour thoughts of revenge. Insidiously, the child may learn that might is right. With children of preschool age, the occasional spanking doesn't usually leave any long term psychological scar if in other ways the parent demonstrate warmth and caring. With older children, spanking causes shame, loss of dignity and a feeling of disgrace and should therefore be avoided entirely. When a parent resorts to spanking, he misses the opportunity to teach his child something important and will soon find that the more often he uses spanking to discipline, the more likely he will have to use it exclusively.