Corporal Punishment, Essay Example

The most persuasive argument is Paintal’s article. The reason as to why this article is more persuasive is because, according to him we get to understand why many people in most countries just to mention a few; Sweden, Austria and Germany consider spanking to be corporal punishment hence, passing a “no corporal punishment “ law. Time has changed since the writing of the Bible where people used to strongly believe that when you spare the rod you spoil the child. However, what the Bible failed to disclose is the difference between spanking and physical abuse. It does not draw a clear boundary how far spanking should go.

We get to see that parents use absurd techniques to discipline their children. According to Paintal, he outlines some of the methods parents use and they include; whipping, beating, paddling and flogging. In most cases, it starts as corporal punishment, but later gets out of control to a point of physical abuse. After a long period of time, the children become depressed, violent, antisocial and disrespectful to their elders.

Spanking is ineffective because it only inflicts pain, but does not teach the children any lessons. The appropriate approach is to reprimand children using ideal examples of the kind of consequences one experiences if he or she associates themselves in wrong doing. When one reprimands his or her child, it builds on trust and respect rather than fear in the case of spanking. The involvement of reprimanding and discussion of the mistake done creates a platform where the child can set rules and identify consequences for breaking them.