There is the side that believes that time outs are the best form of punishment for misbehavior and then there are the ones that believe that spanking your child will correct the behavior.
The side that advocates time outs believes that corporal punishments, such as spanking, don’t work. They say that it is punishment and not discipline and will only teach the child that it is alright to hit.
Using the time out method of discipline is said to help the child take responsibility for their actions and allows the parent to still keep a warm and loving relationship with their child.
The time out or non-physical discipline advocates point to studies that show that parents who discipline using spanking or other forms of corporal punishment do not change the behavior. They are likely to be spanking their child at 4 for the same thing they did at 2. They use this to show that spanking doesn’t work since the behavior is still the same the child has learned nothing from the spanking.
They suggest that a nothing has been accomplished with a spanking besides allowing the parents to vent their frustrations of the behavior on their child.
On the other side of the coin, the supporters of spanking as a form of discipline believe that by spanking a child you can stop the behavior quickly and effectively. It is like a Pavelov’s Dog theory. If you spank the child for a behavior that is unacceptable they will associate the behavior with the pain they experienced and they will not want to do it again.
Parents who choose spanking over the non-physical forms of punishment are quick to explain the difference between spanking and abuse. Spanking is discipline and should not cause any physical harm. It should be on the behind of the child and no where else. Spanking is also something that should not have to be done on a regular basis. Abuse is much more physical than spanking and is done not to correct a behavior but to satisfy some ugly need for control in the adult.
Most who believe in spanking use both forms of discipline for their children. Spanking is usually reserved for the more serious offences while time outs or something like them are used for lesser issues. They might spank the child for running out into the street to make sure they are aware of how dangerous that behavior could be but they will send the child to their room for not cleaning up their toys like they were asked.
The only thing that both sides agree on is that you have to be consistent. If you are going to spank your child for writing on the walls of you home you need to do that every time they write on the walls. If you don’t this sends mixed and confusing signals to the child and the behavior that you are trying to stop will continue.
