Spanking can be described as a form of discipline that is normally enforced on a child for wrongdoing, in an attempt to correct bad behaviors. This is not something that was introduced recently but has always been there since the days of our forefathers. Some argue that it is a cruel form of making a child develop discipline while others argue that it is an effective way that has proven to work. There have been some efforts by a couple of parents to make spanking of children illegal, but this probably only works at the school level.
At home, it is a different case. A child will be spanked if he or she is unruly and quite disrespectful. The thing is that some parents do not really know the borderline between spanking and child abuse. Child abuse in this context is clearly defined as the crime of harming a child in a physical way, probably by beating them up severely or inflicting so much pain in the child that they are unable to do their chores in a normal way. This is illegal and can lead to outright prosecution or even the loss of one’s child to social services.
However, in some cultures, there is no limit as to the extent of disciplining one’s child as long as they do not die. This has caused a lot of trauma in children who grow up in such homes and it eventually wrecks the children who fall victim of this kind of abuse. These children end up even becoming violent in life. They can also become abusers not only of their own kids but the public at large too.
Some end up kidnapping people and torturing them in a bid to relieve off the trauma or stress that they underwent. But they never realize that this never solves anything. If children are not punished, there is high likelihood that they will end up becoming delinquent and ill-mannered. This does not in any way emphasize the level of punishment that should be imposed on a child. It is believed that God expects mankind to be wise enough to know how to handle the young ones in all aspects of life.
Failure to discipline a child ends up making them lazy and unproductive. Some forms of punishments are not really effective. Sending a child to their room in a bid to punish them really does not serve the point because all you do is isolate them and thus no lesson is learnt.
What is normally recommended by child activists is that if you feel that there is a need to discipline the child, do so in a humane manner and make sure that the child knows why he/she is being punished and what they should have done in order to avoid the punishment. Most children never know when they are wrong until they are corrected.
Spanking of children is a good form of disciplining them as long as it is done in a loving way, and the child should not be left to nurse any wounds. This will ensure that they grow up differentiating good behaviors from bad ones and they will not fear the parent. Instead, they will learn that punishment is delivered as way of making better persons out of them.