Spanking is Striking
30 Jan 2007 in Parenthood by GarrickThere, I said it.
Spanking a child is child abuse. There, I said it again.
For three reasons:
- If same action anywhere else on the body would be considered abuse - it’s abuse.
- It shows children that bigger, stronger people have the right to hurt smaller people. So, big brothers think it’s OK to strike their little brothers.
- Not putting spanking on the list of disciplinary options - even as a “last resort” - doesn’t make it an option.
If adding spanking into the definition of child abuse isn’t possible, then yes, striking a child under 4 should be punishable by a year in jail and $1,000 fine. Kudos to California Assemblywoman Sally Lieber for initiating an anti-spanking bill.
I learned about this from NPR’s Day to Day: California Lawmaker Pushes Anti-Spanking Bill
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Comments (1 Comment)
Greta added these pithy words on Feb 12 07 at 4:48 pmI couldn’t agree more. In the same way, yelling at a child teaches him to yell. Apparently rolling your eyes a lot doesn’t work either.
