According to parenting.com, 94% of three and four-year-olds have been spanked at least once during this past year, 74% of mothers believe spanking is acceptable for kids ages one to three, and 61% of parents say they use spanking as the main form of punishment for their children (O'Callaghan, 2014). As seen through these statistics, it is obvious that the majority of parents do spank their kids. However, there are various factors that play into the spanking being done such as the region of the country, family income, and race, and religion. Children in the south are more likely to get spanked, lower income means more spanking, African-American mothers tend to spank their kids more than other ethnic groups, and parents strong religious beliefs spank more than those who are less (O'Callaghan, 2014). It is very clear that spanking is a form of punishment parents use on their child(ren).
For several decades, many experts have declared the act of spanking as ineffective and sometimes dangerous. Experts call spanking "ineffective" because kids start thinking their parents are evil and to be afraid of them, rather than to respect them. Experts also say spanking your child can be "dangerous" because using such a physical and forceful punishment can cause injuries to the child which will influence the child's' thinking of how to
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For example, if you were to touch a hot stove with your hand, you will get burned all the time. However, this does not happen with the reasons why parents spank their child for. Often time, parents are not present to see the wrongful act being done or are not able to spank immediately afterwards. Dr. Phil states, "Make a commitment to your child's discipline. You have to do what you say you're going to do. Consequences should be highly predictable for your child (McGraw,