Parenting Techniques

1 Parenting Techniques Good parenting involves providing an environment that is conducive for mental, emotional, intellectual and physical growth. It gives children the opportunity to develop into well-adjusted adults who can contribute positively their lives and others’. Discipline is one of the core elements of parenting. It gives children the tools they need to navigate relationships, develop self-discipline and respect for others. Children are taught what is right and wrong, permissible and impermissible through a variety of discipline techniques. Discipline should reinforce positive behavior and discourage negative behavior. One of the most controversial discipline techniques is spanking (Donnelly, & Straus, 2013).For some parents, it is an effective method of correcting a child if properly administered; while for others, it is an act of violence against the child, and does more harm than good in the long run. This paper examines spanking as a parenting technique from two opposite stances; whether it is good or bad. It draws its findings from two articles on the subject.

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Argument for Spanking According to this article, there has been a sharp rise in gang violence, school shootings and teenage delinquency in the last twenty years due to parent’s lenience when disciplining their children. Spanking is a negative reinforcement technique that involves inflicting a reasonable amount of pain on the child to discourage a certain behavior. The article recommends that spanking to correct the problems ailing society, saking should be allowed as one of the methods of correcting child behavior. However, to be effective, it should not be used as the first or the only discipline technique so that the child does not grow to equate pain to correction (Webster-Stratton, et al., 2001).When the child performs a behavior that they have been warned against repeatedly, spanking should be used to stop the behavior.

The parent should ensure that they are in an emotion-free state of mind, and before spanking the child; they should carefully explain the purpose of the spanking and assure the child of their love for them. The parent should not spank the child for every minor misdemeanor because the child can become too accustomed to it that it eliminates its effectiveness. Spanking, if done within the right parameters, can be an effective discipline tool because it carries a shock value that differentiates it from other discipline techniques.

Argument against Spanking According to the writer, spanking is an ineffective discipline technique that increases the risk of a child developing behavioral challenges and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety later on in life (Maguire-Jack, et al., 2012) The article is based on research on children between the ages of 1 to 5 years old who were spanked by their parents as one of the primary disciplinary techniques. While it may lead to behavior control in the short term, in the long term it may lead to an escalation of the same behavior problems. It is

3 therefore ineffective because it does not address the root cause of the issue. The journal proposes that parents should be encouraged to seek alternative and more effective forms of discipline.

Conclusion The issue of spanking has been the subject of intense debate for several years. While supports say that is effective while carried out in a manner that ensures the child’s safety and assures them of the parent’s love, opponents view it as an outdated disciplinary technique that raises the likelihood of child abuse and has a negative effect on the emotional, mental and physical well-being of the child. Discipline is as essential as nutrition and education in facilitating the happiness and stability of the child. It should be done kindly and out of love to ensure that the child is not harmed or traumatized.

4 References Donnelly, M., & Straus, M. (2013). Corporal Punishment of Children in Theoretical Perspective. Connecticut: Yale University Press.

Maguire-Jack, K., Gromoske, A., & Berger, L. (2012). Spanking and Child Development During the First 5

Years of Life. Child Development, 83(6), 1960-1977. doi:

10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01820.x Webster-Stratton, C., Reid, J., & Hammond, M. (2001). Social Skills and Problem-solving Training for Children with Early-onset Conduct Problems: Who Benefits?. Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, 42(7), 943-952. doi: 10.1111/1469-7610.00790

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