Corporal Punishment
More Specifically: Disciplinary Spanking
One of the most common corrective measures used by parents in America is disciplinary spanking. It is most often used with children under 5 years of age, when reasoning and verbal persuasion are often unsuccessful. Over the past three decades, a debate has arisen over the appropriateness and effectiveness of spanking. The term corporal punishment is often used in this debate instead of the term spanking. The two terms, however, are very different. Corporal (physical) punishment is defined as bodily punishment of any kind, and includes abusive acts such as beating, kicking, choking, cutting, scalding and even starving. Spanking, while a form of corporal punishment, is more specifically defined by World English Dictionary as “a series of spanks on the buttocks, especially as punishment for children.” This is what most parents would call “ordinary spanking.”
In evaluating disciplinary spanking, it is critical that it be distinguished from corporal punishment since the outcomes of their use in the punishment of children are very different. The following links will take you to several pages of detail concerning disciplinary spanking.
Disciplinary Spanking: Defined
Disciplinary Spanking: Is It Necessary
The Corporal Punishment Conference
What the Research Says about Spanking
How to Use Disciplinary Spanking
Common Arguments Against the Use of Spanking
Official Policies on Corporal Punishment