38 - Is Spanking Effective?

Host: Dr. Tara Egan
Co-host: Anna, teen daughter

Today Tara and Anna are exploring the topic of spanking (or however you want to call it), physical discipline or corporal punishment. This topic has been very popular, actually controversial, and Tara and Anna discuss specifically - Is spanking an effective form of disciplining kids?

Tara starts out by clearly defining what they are talking about when they say spanking. Spanking is  considered physical punishment that typically involves hitting a child with an open hand, typically across their butt. The intent of spanking is to cause physical pain or discomfort, in order to modify the child's behavior.

There is a lot of information out there and we hit some points:
- who is most likely to get spanked.
- how the statistics has changed over the years and has been on a decrease.
- the fact that 19 states in the US corporal punishment is still permitted in schools, including in Anna's school district.
- how spanking is usually done in the heat of the moment when the parent is at the end of their rope, not in a calm state.

Anna posed the question, are parents more apt to spank their kids if they were spanked a child? We discuss the answer to that question, as well as, share the reasoning of parents who had been spanked as a child use to defend spanking;
 "I was spanked as a child and I am fine"
"These kids nowadays need to be taught responsibility"

 What Spanking Does?
Gets attention by inspiring fear or conclusion causing pain.
They will often stop what they are doing, but it is usually results in crying, scream scrying, possibly hitting back.
And More....

What Spanking Doesn't Do:
Teach them what they should be doing instead.
They do not learn conflict resolution or critical thinking
And more...

As parents it is our responsibility to find alternate ways of disciplining. Here are some to consider:

Alternate ways
Set the stage for success, don't take the kid to the grocery store tired and hungry.
Reward kids when they do a good job, if they need a consequence you can use time out.
The loss of privileges -play dates or favorite item or toy.

Tara feels that kids do not need pain to learn, most parents lack of ability to discipline is more the issue rather than kids ability to behave. Sometimes we just need a little extra support as parents. Please reach out to learn more about how we can help!

To learn more about Dr. Tara Egan's child & adolescent therapy services and books on this subject, visit HERE.
To join our private FB group for parents of high schoolers and soon-to-be high schoolers, visit HERE.
To join us on Instagram, visit HERE. 

This episode was edited by Laura Bauder from PodcastHERS.