When my son was very small, he would not sleep. Many times in order to console him, I would put him in bed with my husband and me. I remember one night in particular I put him in bed with me and when he started to move around and whimper, I got very angry and gave him a slap on his diapered bottom. With the California State Legislature considering a ruling against spanking, I was prompted to take a closer look at the issue of corporal punishment. One survey conducted by Public Agenda, a non-partisan think tank, found many parents are seeking alternative methods to spanking to get their children to behave. Only 34 percent surveyed said they have been successful at teaching their children self-control.
The American Academy of Pediatrics AAP recommends healthy forms of discipline, such as positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviors, limit setting, redirecting, and setting future expectations. The AAP recommends that parents do not use spanking, hitting, slapping, threatening, insulting, humiliating, or shaming. Corporal punishment of children younger than 18 months of age increases the likelihood of physical injury.
The idea of swatting children horrifies many parents, who say the practice is cruel, antiquated, and ineffective. Decades of research support those claims and draw links between childhood spankings and mental health problems later in life. A recent study even found that spanked kids are more likely to behave violently toward future romantic partners. Black parents spank more often than white parents, and parents who spank usually are poor and less educated than parents who never spank.
Excuse, that I can not participate now in discussion - there is no free time. But I will return - I will necessarily write that I think on this question.