To keep up with the non-political articles I've been writing recently, I decided it was time to tackle this issue. This article will discuss a truly horrible issue. Four out of five adults support this heinous act. Two out of three parents have committed this act. You may have guessed what this article is about: spanking.
Some Basic Facts
I could make this article as long as a book with all of the statistics on how terrible it is to hit a child. I'll simply list off a few facts and then get into the logic of the problem.
1 in 4 parents begin to spank at 6 months old.
Spanking leads to increased aggression in preschool and school children.
3 year olds who were spanked more than twice a month were 50% more likely to exhibit hostile tendencies by age 5.
Spanking lowers a child's I.Q.
1 in 4 parents hit their children with an object (i.e. wooden spoon, hairbrush).
Spanking and slapping leads to: anxiety, alcohol abuse, antisocial behavior, and mental disorders, delinquency, violence, and a risk factor of child abuse.
Logic of Hitting Kids
I could go on, but I think you get the point by now. Let's get into the logical issues with child abuse.
One of the main issues is that some parents don't view spanking as hitting. Everyone knows that you don't go around punching people who aren't acting the way you want them to. But when a child starts crying or 'acting up,' suddenly it's ok to use violent aggression against them. So, what is spanking and how is it different than hitting?
The next issue is not dealing with spanking but with the child. Who is more defenseless than a child? A child can't fight back, he can't move, he has virtually no freedom to escape a tyrannical abusive parent. If you are an adult and someone hits you, you can hit back, you can just walk away and never talk to him again, you have endless options. If it is wrong to hit another adult, it should be considered a million, billion times more wrong to hit a child.
Now let's look at animals. If you abuse animals, whether they are pets, farm animals or anything else, you are going to lose those animals and likely not be allowed to buy any other animals. If you abuse children, most likely you won't lose those kids or have restrictions on having more. Most people will not report child abuse. People usually fall into one of these two categories when they see/hear about child abuse:
1. They are used to child abuse and will congratulate them on being a good parent. "You gotta keep them kids in line! A little spankin' never hurt nobody."
2. They aren't used to child abuse and will simply be shocked. They will either awkwardly laugh or sit in silence with no idea on how to react.
My Story
I fall into category #2. I was never hit as a child (or as an adult for that matter). I once saw a woman hit her child right in front of me while working in a grocery store. I had no idea what to do. I wanted to punch her in the face, but I didn't want to lose my job. I just stood there in shock. Another time I was at a friend of a friend's house. Let's call this person Guy. Guy is married to Girl. Guy and Girl have 2 kids. While visiting one day, Girl briefly mentioned that she spanked her kids. I was once again shocked and didn't know what to say. I was there with friends so I stayed silent and let other people talk.
I'm asking you all, and myself, to make a change. If you have kids, DON'T FUCKING HIT THEM. If you know people that hit kids, do something. As AnCaps we may not want to call the government to help. They will either do nothing or make the child's life even worse. Instead, you might be better off challenging them with logic. Ask them, "why is it ok to hit kids?" If they get mad at you, don't be afraid to ask them if they want to hit you.
Warning: This may instantly end a friendship. Confronting someone about hitting their kids will likely not end well. Maybe a few times it will end with the person saying, "Hmm, never thought of it that way. I guess I shouldn't hit my kids anymore." Chances are it will end more like, "Get the fuck out of my house! What do you know about raising kids?!"
Below are some references for the first part of this article. Some I used for this article, some are just interesting.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90406
http://www.babble.com/kid/18-shocking-facts-about-spanking/
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983895,00.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/spanking-children-linked-to-mental-health-disorders_n_1643422.html
http://www.positive-parents.org/2011/07/whats-wrong-with-kids-today.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/four-in-five-americans-believe-parents-spanking-their-children-is-sometimes-appropriate-225314281.html
I could make this article as long as a book with all of the statistics on how terrible it is to hit a child. I'll simply list off a few facts and then get into the logic of the problem.
1 in 4 parents begin to spank at 6 months old.
Spanking leads to increased aggression in preschool and school children.
3 year olds who were spanked more than twice a month were 50% more likely to exhibit hostile tendencies by age 5.
Spanking lowers a child's I.Q.
1 in 4 parents hit their children with an object (i.e. wooden spoon, hairbrush).
Spanking and slapping leads to: anxiety, alcohol abuse, antisocial behavior, and mental disorders, delinquency, violence, and a risk factor of child abuse.
Logic of Hitting Kids
I could go on, but I think you get the point by now. Let's get into the logical issues with child abuse.
One of the main issues is that some parents don't view spanking as hitting. Everyone knows that you don't go around punching people who aren't acting the way you want them to. But when a child starts crying or 'acting up,' suddenly it's ok to use violent aggression against them. So, what is spanking and how is it different than hitting?
The next issue is not dealing with spanking but with the child. Who is more defenseless than a child? A child can't fight back, he can't move, he has virtually no freedom to escape a tyrannical abusive parent. If you are an adult and someone hits you, you can hit back, you can just walk away and never talk to him again, you have endless options. If it is wrong to hit another adult, it should be considered a million, billion times more wrong to hit a child.
Now let's look at animals. If you abuse animals, whether they are pets, farm animals or anything else, you are going to lose those animals and likely not be allowed to buy any other animals. If you abuse children, most likely you won't lose those kids or have restrictions on having more. Most people will not report child abuse. People usually fall into one of these two categories when they see/hear about child abuse:
1. They are used to child abuse and will congratulate them on being a good parent. "You gotta keep them kids in line! A little spankin' never hurt nobody."
2. They aren't used to child abuse and will simply be shocked. They will either awkwardly laugh or sit in silence with no idea on how to react.
My Story
I fall into category #2. I was never hit as a child (or as an adult for that matter). I once saw a woman hit her child right in front of me while working in a grocery store. I had no idea what to do. I wanted to punch her in the face, but I didn't want to lose my job. I just stood there in shock. Another time I was at a friend of a friend's house. Let's call this person Guy. Guy is married to Girl. Guy and Girl have 2 kids. While visiting one day, Girl briefly mentioned that she spanked her kids. I was once again shocked and didn't know what to say. I was there with friends so I stayed silent and let other people talk.
I'm asking you all, and myself, to make a change. If you have kids, DON'T FUCKING HIT THEM. If you know people that hit kids, do something. As AnCaps we may not want to call the government to help. They will either do nothing or make the child's life even worse. Instead, you might be better off challenging them with logic. Ask them, "why is it ok to hit kids?" If they get mad at you, don't be afraid to ask them if they want to hit you.
Warning: This may instantly end a friendship. Confronting someone about hitting their kids will likely not end well. Maybe a few times it will end with the person saying, "Hmm, never thought of it that way. I guess I shouldn't hit my kids anymore." Chances are it will end more like, "Get the fuck out of my house! What do you know about raising kids?!"
Below are some references for the first part of this article. Some I used for this article, some are just interesting.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90406
http://www.babble.com/kid/18-shocking-facts-about-spanking/
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983895,00.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/spanking-children-linked-to-mental-health-disorders_n_1643422.html
http://www.positive-parents.org/2011/07/whats-wrong-with-kids-today.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/four-in-five-americans-believe-parents-spanking-their-children-is-sometimes-appropriate-225314281.html