It is one of the biggest challenges for most parents to manage their children’s behavior.

Physical

punishment is a discipline method used to cause a child to experience pain to control or correct

his or her unacceptable behavior. among 197 countries and regions in the world, only 25

countries have commitment to the prohibition of physical punishment in the home. Wherever

people travel in this world, policy-makers, politicians, and parents always tell them that children

deserve the best because they are the future of a society.

Parents, who support the use of physical punishment for disciplining children, claim there a

many benefit of this parenting tool. First, they feel that at a certain age, 2-6 years of age, children

cannot easily understand logic and reasoning; physical punishment is the only language children

can understand instantaneously. Physical punishment can be effective on a short-term basis in

getting children to change any negative behavior. Therefore, it is better not to waste time on

teaching them how to behave. Instead, show them the fear of doing something wrong and

children will obey and behave absolutely right when they are afraid of punishment.

A second argument used to support physical punishment of children is that some adults point to

the physical discipline they received as a contributing factor to their success. Not only did they

not suffer harm from their parent hitting; they learned valuable lessons that benefited them into

their adult lives. Many of today’s parents received spankings from their own parents when they

misbehaved as children. They grew up healthily and productively as members of society. They

thus feel that this is a proper form of discipline for their own children. They are not violent and

do not hit their children.

A third argument for physical punishment is its deterrent effect. In a large family, if one child is

physically punished in front of other children, not only that child learns to behave, others also

learn a lesson to behave. If children are physically punished by their parents, they learn that

when they are angry and upset in the future, hitting is appropriate behavior for relief. Therefore,

physical punishment opponents think that disciplining children by means of hitting them is not

harmonious with today’s modern societies.

In conclusion, physical punishment is a controversial topic. It is hard to answer whether parents

should use physical punishment of their children or not when disciplining them. In fact, a large

number of parents still use some form of punishment that involves inflicting physical pain when

disciplining their children. They think that disciplining children is their rights and responsibility.

Some parents’ success today results from their parents’ physical punishment disciplines. Also,

those parents think that parents think that physical punishment is a highly efficient and

immediately effective disciplinary option for correcting misbehavior. Not only does one child

behave properly, but all other children in a family follow as well. On the contrary, the supporters

of physical punishment ban advocate that physical punishment is a kind of physical abuse and

violate the human rights children. In addition, research studies discussed above, demonstrate that

physical punishment can lead to emotional and behavioral problems, such as depression,

antisocial behaviors, family violence, and other criminal activities. If children are physically

punished by their parents, they learn that when they are angry and upset in the future, hitting is

appropriate behavior for relief. Therefore, physical punishment opponents think that disciplining

children by means of hitting them is not harmonious with today’s modern societies. Research

and expert opinion strongly suggest that due to the negative outcomes associated with regular

physical punishment, it is recommended that parents primarily use non-physical methods of

discipline such as reasoning and time outs with the cautious use non-abusive physical

punishment such as spanking.