Corporal Punishment and the Development of a Child

The authoritative figure in a family is the person who is seen as a leader within the family unit. Their primary responsibilities are to set boundaries, provide structure, and make judgments that will impact the well-being of the family as a whole. The rest of the family members often look up to this authoritative figure for guidance, protection, and support. Some authoritative figures are not as ideal as the one previously explained; some tend to deviate from traditional ways and may fail to acknowledge family members' emotional needs, lack communication, micromanage the family, neglect responsibilities within the family structure, or assert an authoritarian parenting style, which may strain a parent and child relationship. This kind of parenting style brings us to corporal punishment, a disciplinary method where the authority figure forces pain onto a child due to inappropriate language or unacceptable behavior. However, is relying on this type of discipline an effective way of punishment on a child? How may this disciplinary method affect the children in the long run?

 The purpose of parental discipline is to teach children good behavior and support normal child development. Corporal punishment is viewed as one of the easiest ways to discipline your child for doing something bad; just a few hits with whichever solid object and the punishment is done. Methods of corporal punishment include hitting, slapping, spanking, shaking, punching, kicking, choking, electric shock, confinement in small spaces, excessive exercise, and fixed postures for long periods. Instruments used in corporal punishment include leather straps, switches, baseball bats, and fists (Grayson, 2006). Imposing this much fear onto a child will only increase their feelings of anxiety and depression, and can create feelings of resentment as well as internalized anger, it will fuel all this pent up aggression and redirect it back or possibly let these feelings be dormant and endure this type of behavior, though this will affect them on an emotional level. Corporal punishment has been around for thousands of years and was a very common type of punishment to set clear boundaries and to motivate children to behave in public. It was very effective in the early ages, but times have changed, and new ways of disciplining should replace the old ones to accommodate a child’s healthy development.

Numerous parents use physical punishment as a form of disciplining their children. Parents observe the child’s reaction to corporal punishment in the short term—the child is upset and stops the behavior—so, they conclude that it is an effective teaching tool. Parents also believe that the punishment promotes effective child socialization because it teaches the child what not to do (Holden, 2017). The purpose of discipline is to teach children good behavior and support normal child development. Effective discipline does so without the use of corporal punishment or verbal shaming (Sege, 2018). Corporal punishment becomes especially destructive when young children, who view their parents as role models, begin to imitate their parents’ violent behavior. Suppose the parents express any negative emotions. These young kids will internalize this behavior without giving it a second thought and then commit deviant behavior. At young ages, children's brains are still developing and are constantly retaining new experiences, possible experiences that are going to shape them up once they are fully grown adults. Using these sorts of punishments on children at a young age will distort the child's way of thinking, they will pick up on these dreadful experiences and will show a distorted idea about ways to deal with other individuals or how to deal with certain life problems. Likewise, young adults who had been physically abused were more than twice as likely to be in the clinical range for externalizing disorders involving aggression and delinquency and internalizing disorders involving anxiety and depression, compared to young adults who had not been abused as children (Lansford, 2021). 

There is a recent case that took place which involves Ruby Franke, a mother and popular family vlogger who has shared her disciplinary methods with her audience on YouTube. Ruby gave her kids the harshest punishment for the most unproblematic kinds of rules they broke. Allegations that Franke was abusing her children circulated widely in 2020, when Chad revealed he’d had his bedroom taken away for playing pranks on his brother and had been sleeping on a beanbag chair for seven months as punishment. Some videos show Franke penalizing her kids by withholding food; others show her threatening them with “losing the privilege” of eating dinner and arguing that her 6-year-old daughter should go hungry because she forgot to bring her packed lunch to school (Bansinath, 2024). She was recently caught at the home of her friend, Jodi Hildebrandt, where her kids were withheld food, water, and adequate living spaces as a form of punishment. When police arrived, they found Ruby's kids in makeshift vaults with wounds on their bodies, specifically their wrists and ankles. They were malnourished and unresponsive when local authorities tried to ask them questions about their well-being and of the situation. These kids had been through torture and public verbal shame with these "disciplinary methods." The harm that corporal punishment can cause the most is the child's brain and impairs their cognitive and emotional development. Direct physical harm can burden a child with an overload of stress, depression, and anxiety, which can damage them with issues that may take a lot of effort to treat. These issues can include having low self-esteem, self-harm or attempt to commit suicide, dependence on alcohol or drugs, and becoming antisocial. These are some of how children know how to cope when living in this environment, coping mechanisms that are far from the help they direly need. Parents should consider several options for disciplining their kids in a manner that will not harm them in the long run. They should instead implement an environment of encouragement, prepare them ahead for challenging situations, establish firm rules, and give them a simple and clear direction whenever a negative issue occurs.

Citation

Lansford, J. (2021, October 15). Abused children are twice as likely to have negative adult outcomes. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/parenting-and-culture/202110/abused-children-are-twice-likely-have-negative-adult-outcomes 

Grayson, J. (n.d.). Corporal Punishment in Schools. NCJRS Virtual Library. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/corporal-punishment-schools-0#:~:text=Methods%20of%20corporal%20punishment%20include,%2C%20baseball%20bats%2C%20and%20fists. 

Sege, R. (2018, November 5). AAP policy opposes corporal punishment, draws on recent evidence. Publications.aap.org. https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/6955/AAP-policy-opposes-corporal-punishment-draws-on 

Holden, G. (2017, February 1). Why do parents physically punish their children? 5 useful analogies from Sedimentary Rocks. Psychology Benefits Society. https://psychologybenefits.org/2017/02/01/why-do-parents-physically-punish-their-children/ 

Bansinath, B. (2024, March 25). What we know about the mommy vlogger accused of child abuse. The Cut. https://www.thecut.com/article/ruby-franke-utah-mommy-vlogger-pleads-guilty-to-child-abuse.html