There is a parenting question that elicits many opinions and responses of mothers and fathers from all around the world. Is spanking an effective and safe way to punish a misbehaving child? And if not, what are the long-term effects of spanking a child? Although extensive research suggests that there are far more negative side effects of raising your hand to a child than there are positives and despite this, many people continue to spank their children. Most parents seem to be unaware of the research that is out there on the topic of punishing children. One of the best ways to spread the word about the effects of spanking children is to educate those who do not know the effects it can have on children. People should make sure to look out for the next generations of children as these are the kids who are our next generation of teachers, lawyers, and congressmen. We don’t want our children to be suffering the negative consequences of their childhood later on in adulthood. There are so many negative consequences of spanking a child such as increased aggression, poor cognitive outcomes, and antisocial behavior.

Increased aggression is a common side effect that makes its appearance later on down the road, when it becomes a long-term effect of being spanked as a child. Parents use spanking as a quick fix so to speak and they do not think about what kind of messages spanking is sending to their children. Is it okay to physically put your hands on someone when they have done wrong? What stops the child from thinking this is an okay option for dealing with their future spouse? “Physical discipline, including spanking, is associated with increased aggressive behavior and lower self-esteem in children," says Brian Johnson, Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Northern Colorado. He also states that “spanking models for children that using aggression is fine when one is upset, or has a conflict (Abbassi 2017)." This learned behavior is repeated down the road in other situations that definitely do not call for physical confrontation. We cannot ignore the evidence that spanking will be taken as a learned behavior and in turn be turned into other aggressive behaviors as it is seen “the more frequently young children were spanked—regardless of whether mother, father, or both administered the punishment—the higher their odds of increased aggressive behavior two years later (Lee 2013).” Imagine little Tommy, he hits his brother while playing and then his punishment is to be spanked by his father. Does this really make sense? Hitting someone to teach them not to hit is counterproductive and just makes the child angry and confused. Children are especially sensitive especially during younger years, and they need to understand what they are doing is wrong. If a parent is hitting a child for hitting, then that isn’t really teaching them not to hit. In fact, this usually teaches the exact opposite of what you want them to learn. Ultimately, aggressive behavior can lead to your child being arrested for aggressive behavior down the road. We do not want our children to live a life that sends them to jail or prison and ultimately anything we can do as parents to help the children have better quality of life is worth it. This of course isn’t the only factor that contributes to aggression, but it is definitely one of them. Many things can contribute but consider this a puzzle piece to the ultimate issue. When accompanied with other factors it can make matters worse. Regardless, aggression is still an issue.

If increased aggression isn’t enough to worry about, evidence also suggests being spanked relates to poor cognitive development. Research shows that spanking is “associated with poorer cognitive outcomes for children, even when the researchers controlled for factors such as maternal intelligence, maternal depression and cognitive stimulation in the home (Klass 2016).” Regardless of the controlled factors in a study, the children still exhibit these issues after being spanked. “Bivariate correlational relationships were found between spanking/CP (corporal punishment) and negative outcomes including externalizing and internalizing symptoms and lower cognitive performance (Fergusson 2012).” If spanking ends up effecting their cognitive performance negatively then how is it helping to spank them at all? We want the punishment we administer to our child to be productive and to educate them in some way that their behavior is wrong. Rather, by spanking them we are actually contributing to their lower cognitive performance later on in life. Many researches have conducted experiments and gathered the results. Many researches have found significant results showing that children perform worse and have a much lower cognitive performance than their peers who were not spanked. Factors like these play a big role later on in life.

Lastly, many researches have established a strong correlation between exhibiting antisocial behavior and having been spanked as a child. ““Conditional spanking” led to greater reductions in child defiance or anti-social behavior (Smith 2012).” Despite there being significant evidence for this, parents continue to spank their children, not thinking about what it can do to them later on. However, in much of the research, scientist have found “the associations between corporal punishment and child antisocial behavior were stronger when mothers reported having spanked impulsively rather than in a controlled manner (Moyer 2016).” Regardless, there was significant evidence that a child later on exhibited antisocial behavior. Parents want the best for their children and we definitely do not want the next generation to be full of antisocial people who don’t know how to interact with each other. Antisocial behavior is only one of the many negative consequences that can impact a child’s day to day life.

Many parents do not bother doing research into other alternatives for punishing their children. They assume it’s either spank your child or the child will go unpunished. There are many different forms of punishments. Some options include time outs, loss of privileges, and moral talks. All of these are better options than putting your hands on a child. All of these options are better because they do not have the same negative effects on a child as spanking a child does. Education on other options to utilize are available all over the internet. Ultimately it depends on the child and the parent but spanking the child should never be an option as it only damages them in the end. There are so many scientific journals and tons of research on the topic and it’s as simple as educating yourself on it. All parents have the same goal, and the goal is to raise a child to be as happy and successful as possible. If we can change just this one aspect of parenting, then we can raise a generation of healthier and better children.

Many parents spank their children and believe that spanking them is truly in their best interest and it is deemed as the only punishment that actually works. However, many parents are uneducated on any other ways to punish their children. Most parents were raised being spanked themselves and therefore think it is okay to spank their own children. So, “Gershoff says that in spite of the lingering controversy, the safest approach parents can take is not to spank their kids. “Studies continue to find that spanking predicts negative behavior changes—there are no studies showing that kids improve (Moyer 2016).” Despite the overwhelming amount of scientific evidence, people continue to spank their children. Ultimately parents want the best for their children and spanking a child is only harming them cognitively, socially, and mentally. If spanking a child is ultimately not benefiting them, then we should make sure to come up with a better alternative to educate our children. If people would take a second to look at the evidence, we could raise a generation of different children.
