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Oct. 15, 2009 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux

31:54

1482 Plain Talk about Spanking

An article by Jordan Riak, Executive Director, Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education - http://www.nospank.net

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	Plain Truth About Spanking by Jordan Riak www.nospank.net Criticism of traditional parenting methods is typically met with suspicion.
	resistance, and hostility.
	Were this fundamental conservatism of human nature to express itself in words, it might say something like this.
	If the old methods worked well enough for past generations, they'll surely work for the next.
	Don't fix it if it isn't broken.
	Don't mess with success.
	Sometimes children just need a good smack on the bottom to get their attention.
	It never did a child any harm.
	That's how I was raised, and I turned out okay.
	But just how well did we really turn out?
	Sooner or later, we have to admit that perhaps not all family traditions are created equal.
	Maybe, in some cases, they've made our lives more precarious and unhappy than they need to have been.
	And maybe, just maybe, we haven't turned out quite as okay as we'd like to believe and have others believe.
	When we praise our parents' treatment of us when we were little, are we merely fishing for approval of our own similar behaviors now?
	Are we trying to reassure ourselves that the way we want to remember things is the way they really were and ought to remain?
	Let's test the I turned out okay argument by examining a few real life examples from my own childhood.
	See if they apply to you.
	1. There were ashtrays in every room of our house.
	My parents smoked as did most adult visitors to our home.
	The aroma of cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke was always present.
	Nobody minded. In fact, not one day passed in my early life when I was not exposed to tobacco smoke.
	I was even exposed in the womb because my mother smoked while she was pregnant with me.
	And I turned out okay.
	2. First family car I remember was a 1937 Chevrolet sedan.
	It had no seatbelts.
	When we traveled, I was merely plunked down on the back seat with the expectation that gravity would keep me there.
	It did. And I turned out okay.
	3. All the places in which I lived as a child were painted with lead-based paint.
	And I turned out okay.
	4. I used a bicycle throughout my childhood and teen years, but never wore any kind of protective headgear.
	And I turned out okay.
	Was my family wise or just lucky?
	Today we don't do those things anymore.
	We don't take such risks.
	And we don't expose our children to such risks.
	Not if we know the facts.
	Spanking. The facts.
	The lasting effect.
	Current research in the fields of mental health and child development supports the theory that acts of violence against a child, no matter how brief or how mild, are like exposing the child to a toxin.
	Repeated exposure has a cumulative and enduring effect.
	To some extent we can demonstrate this from personal experience.
	Most of us would have to admit that the most vivid and unpleasant childhood memories are those of being mistreated by our parents.
	Some people find the memory of such events so disturbing that they pretend that they were trivial, even funny.
	You'll notice them smiling as they describe how they were punished.
	It is shame, not pleasure, that makes them smile.
	As a protection against present pain, they disguise the memory of past feelings.
	Some parents, eager to justify their behavior, will argue, you have a duty to grab a child who is about to do something dangerous, to touch the hot stove or run into a busy street, and deliver a good smack, so that your warnings about life's dangers will be remembered.
	Were that argument valid, spankings would become increasingly infrequent as children learned their lessons.
	But that's not what usually happens.
	Spankings tend to escalate in frequency and severity, and spanked children tend to behave worse.
	In fact, being spanked throws children into a state of powerful confusion, making it difficult for them to learn the lessons adults claim they are trying to teach.
	Parents who deliver the so-called good smack are not teaching their children that hot stoves and busy streets are dangerous.
	They're teaching them that the grown-ups upon whom they depend are dangerous.
	That's a bad lesson.
	Lost trust.
	Survival is the newborn infant's overriding concern.
	Fear of falling and of loud noises, like the need to suckle, are not learned responses.
	They come ready-made and fully functioning at birth.
	And beginning immediately after birth, the sound of the mother's voice, the warmth and gentleness of her touch, the scent of her body, the taste of her milk, these key experiences inform the infant of its world and set the stage for all that follows.
	Trust is crucial and must be established early.
	Tragically for many, it is destroyed early.
	Neglect, rough handling, threats, shouts, and associated harsh treatment, including spanking, all of which begin earlier in children's lives than anyone wants to admit, are the principal agents of that destruction.
	Over the years, I've compiled a list of synonyms for spanking.
	That list continues to grow.
	I don't think there is another act with as many names for it in the English language.
	The reason for this seems clear to me.
	People who hit their children feel compelled to trivialize and minimize the act, even to the point of making it seem comical.
	To this end, they have created a special language for the subject.
	They improvise endlessly on that language, as if it were possible to sweeten violence toward children merely by inventing new, colorful, funny-sounding names for it.
	Meanwhile, what's happening to the unseen, internal life of the child?
	The spanked child, like one who is denied adequate food, warmth or rest, is less able to regard the parent as a source of love and security.
	The parent-child relationship is inevitably soured by this betrayal, and consequently, the child fails to mature and thrive in the best possible way.
	When trust between children and their closest caretakers is damaged, the children's ability to form trusting relationships with others is also damaged, and the effect may be lifelong.
	People who've been harmed this way tend to see all relationships as negotiations, as deals to be won or lost.
	They're always on guard.
	They see honesty and trustfulness in others as weaknesses to be exploited exactly as it was once done to them.
	They tend to see the world as an extension of their early home life, a dangerous environment in which the best protection against being a victim is to become a victimizer.
	Neglect and permissiveness Defenders of spanking often argue that a caretaker's only choice is between spanking and doing nothing.
	That's a false choice.
	Permissiveness is as unwise and counterproductive as hitting.
	The wise caretaker establishes a safe environment with age-appropriate boundaries and reasonable rules, models called for behaviors, and appeals to and cultivates the child's natural inclination towards imitation and cooperation.
	This method takes more skill and patience than hitting, but it works.
	It strengthens the bond of trust between parent and child, between teacher and learner, thus paving the way for the more challenging lessons ahead.
	Spousal Battery and Spanking In the overwhelming majority of cases, husbands and wives, whose relationships include violence, are also violent toward their children.
	Such people surely were spanked when they were little and likely witnessed others being spanked.
	Battering and battered spouses who spank their children are raising them to become batterers and victims exactly like themselves.
	The children learn from the parents' example that the way to vent frustration, express disapproval and assert authority is by hitting someone smaller and weaker than themselves.
	They see this principle demonstrated every time they witness their parents come to blows, as well as every time they are on the receiving end of violent punishments.
	They learn that once they are big enough and strong enough, they can control others by threatening or hurting them.
	They learn that it is okay for husbands and wives to mistreat each other, and for adults to mistreat children.
	When children whose personalities have been formed in violent households grow up and have children of their own, they find it very difficult to break free from the behaviors they have witnessed and experienced.
	The skills they apply to family life will be the poor ones they learn from their parents, and they are likely to perpetuate the cycle of abuse through their own innocent children.
	As spanking disappears from family life, other forms of domestic violence will also disappear.
	Escalation Physical injuries and the deaths of children caused by their caretakers often are the consequence of physical punishment.
	Perpetrators of even the most horrendous acts against children typically explain that the child's misbehavior called for punishment and the outcome was unintended.
	Accidental is the child abuser's all-weather alibi.
	Many infants' and toddlers' deaths attributed to accidents, such as falling out of the crib, falling down the stairs, or accidentally drowning in the bathtub because the parent was distracted by a telephone call, would be reclassified as homicides, if the truth were known.
	Sometimes the victim is blamed for his own misfortune.
	For example, he bruises easily.
	Has soft bones.
	Is accident prone.
	She brought it on herself.
	Or wouldn't hold still.
	Some defenders of spanking caution that spanking, to be done correctly, must be done with deliberation and methodically.
	Never spank in anger, they say.
	The implicit message here is that it's quite all right to hurt another person, on condition that one does it calmly.
	Sadists enthusiastically endorse this formula.
	But it is highly unlikely that anyone being abused, child or adult, notices or cares about the abuser's frame of mind.
	Many spankers are habituated to the practice because it provides them with an instant outlet for their feelings of frustration and anger, not because they found it an effective way to improve a child's behavior, and because acts of violence by their very nature tend to escalate as they are indulged.
	There is no safe way to hit a child.
	Spanking and sexual molestation Spanked children learn that their bodies are not their personal property.
	Spanking trains them that even their sexual areas are subject to the will of adults.
	The child who submits to a spanking on Monday is not likely to say no to a molester on Tuesday.
	It's time spankers realize that no matter what else they think they are accomplishing, they are setting children up to be easy prey for predators.
	Spanking the Buttocks and Sexual Development Medical science has long recognized and documented in great detail how being struck on the buttocks can stimulate sexual feelings.
	Children are especially susceptible The tragic consequence for many children who've been punished by spanking is that they form a connection between pain, humiliation, and sexual arousal that endures for the rest of their lives.
	In Slaughter of the Innocents, David Beckin writes, quote, The buttocks are the locus for the induction of pain in a child.
	We are familiar with the argument that it is a safe locus for spanking.
	However, the anal region is also the major erotic region at precisely the time the child is likely to be beaten there.
	Thus, it is aptly chosen to achieve the result of deranged sexuality in adulthood.
	The pornography and prostitution industries do a thriving business catering to the needs of countless unfortunate individuals whose sexual development has been derailed by childhood spankings.
	If we put all other considerations aside, this should be reason enough to never spank a child.
	The Physical Dangers of Hitting the Buttocks Located deep in the buttocks is the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the body.
	A severe blow to the buttocks, particularly with a blunt instrument, could cause bleeding in the muscles that surround that nerve, possibly injuring it and causing impairment to the involved leg.
	In addition to nerve damage and soft tissue damage, a blow to the buttocks can cause injury to the tailbone coccyx or sacrum, It sends force waves upward through the spinal column, possibly causing disc compression or compression fractures of vertebral bones.
	Some people in their attempt to justify battering children's buttocks claim that God or nature intended that part of the anatomy for spanking.
	That claim is brazenly perverse.
	No part of the human body was made to be mistreated.
	Physical Danger of Hitting the Hands The child's hand is particularly vulnerable because its ligaments, nerves, tendons and blood vessels are close to the skin, which has no underlying protective tissue.
	Striking the hands of younger children is especially dangerous to the growth plates in the bones, which, if damaged, can cause deformity or impaired function.
	Striking a child's hand can also cause fractures, dislocations, and lead to premature osteoarthritis.
	Shaking Being shaken can cause a child blindness, whiplash, brain damage, spinal cord injury, and even death.
	Spanking at home, performance at school.
	Perceptive teachers will tell you that the children who exhibit the most serious behavior problems at school also have the most troubled home environments.
	For many of these children, the battle zone, which is their home life, carries over into their school life.
	This sets them up for academic failure and dropout.
	In their attempt to erect a shield against what they see as a comfortless, hostile world, these children naturally seek the company of other children with similar problems.
	Street gangs evolve to fill the void left by failed home life and failed school life.
	We should not be surprised that many youngsters reject the adult world to the degree that they believe it has rejected them.
	Nor should we be surprised that those who throughout childhood have been recipients of violence will become dispensers of it as soon as they are able.
	Some teachers work tirelessly to curb violence-impacted children's aggressiveness, to instill trust which those children lack, and to redirect their energies in positive directions.
	But that is a daunting task, even for the most dedicated and best-prepared teachers.
	It requires extraordinary resources, unavailable to public school systems.
	School dropout, addiction, and delinquency would cease to be major problems racking our nation if only it were possible to persuade parents and other caretakers to stop socializing children in ways likely to make them antisocial and or self-destructive.
	Spanking, smoking, drinking, and drugs.
	To be spanked is a degrading, humiliating experience.
	The spanked child absorbs not only the blows, but also the message they convey.
	You're worthless.
	I reject you. That message powerfully influences the child's developing personality.
	It instills self-hatred.
	Sooner or later, every child is exposed to substances that promise instant relief from feelings of worthlessness and rejection.
	Everywhere, people can be seen medicating themselves in order to feel good.
	It's hard to convince a child who is suffering that something swallowed, inhaled, or injected cannot relieve the pain more than briefly, but will compound it by creating additional serious problems.
	Spanking and Criminal Behavior Everyone is familiar with the list of social maladies believed to be at the root of violent criminal behavior, poverty, discrimination, family breakdown, narcotics, gangs, and easy access to deadly weapons.
	And it's clear that every item in the above list contributes to violence and crime.
	However, one key ingredient is rarely acknowledged.
	Spanking. In 1940, researchers Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck began their landmark study of delinquent and non-delinquent boys.
	They discovered how certain early childhood influences caused children to develop antisocial, violent behaviors.
	They showed that the first signs of delinquency often appear in children as young as three, long before children come into contact with influences outside the home.
	The GLOEX showed that parents who fail to manage their children calmly, gently, and patiently, but instead rely on physical punishment, tend to produce aggressive, assaultive children.
	The more severe and the earlier the mistreatment, the worse the outcome.
	The Gloex also found that the lowest incident of antisocial behavior is associated with children who are reared from infancy inattentive, supportive, non-violent families.
	The message here for all parents is a simple one.
	If you want to do everything within your power to prevent your child from one day joining the prison population, guide gently and patiently.
	Remove shaming, shouting, ignoring, threatening, insulting, bullying and spanking from your parenting toolkit.
	Spanking and Prejudice Spanking fills children with anger and the urge to retaliate.
	But this urge is almost never directly acted upon.
	Even the most severely spanked children, as a general rule, will not strike back at those who have hurt them.
	Instead, they are likely to seek relief in fantasy, where they can safely vent their anger against make-believe adversaries.
	Sometimes bullying and acts of cruelty against younger siblings or family pets serve this purpose.
	Much popular entertainment aimed at young audiences caters to this need.
	As children grow and come under the influence of prejudices within their community, their anger can be easily channeled towards scapegoated groups.
	Hate cults and extremist political factions and sects beckon to them with open arms, offering an opportunity to convert fantasy into reality.
	In every generation, more than a few, seize that offer.
	Spanking and Brain Development In only childhood, the brain develops faster than any other organ in the body.
	By age 5, the brain reaches about 90% of its adult weight, and by 7, it is fully grown.
	This makes early childhood a very sensitive and critical period in brain development.
	Stress caused by pain and fear of spanking can negatively affect the development and function of a child's brain.
	It is precisely during this period of great plasticity and vulnerability that many children are subjected to physical punishment.
	The effect can be a derailing of natural, healthy brain growth resulting in lifelong and irreversible abnormalities.
	According to researcher Dr.
	Martin Teicher of McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, quote, We know that an animal exposed to stress and neglect in early life develops a brain that is wired to experience fear, anxiety, and stress.
	We think the same is true of people.
	From Child Abuse Changes the Developing Brain, Yahoo News, December 29, 2000.
	In Teicher's article, The Neurobiology of Child Abuse, Scientific American, March 2002, he writes, New brain imaging surveys and other experiments have shown that child abuse can cause permanent damage to the neural structure and function of the developing brain itself.
	This grim result suggests that much more effort must be made to prevent childhood abuse and neglect before it does irrevocable harm to millions of young victims.
	Page 70. Society reaps what it sows in the way it nurtures children.
	No responsible parent would deliberately jeopardize a child's normal brain development.
	Yet that is precisely what spankers unwittingly do.
	Spanking at school.
	The disciplinary hitting of students in the United States typically involves battering the buttocks with a flat stick or board called a paddle.
	At the time of this writing, the practice is legal in 21 states.
	It should be understood that paddling is not the only method for inflicting pain.
	Forced exercise and denial of use of the bathroom, for instance, are commonly used as forms of corporal punishment.
	But paddling, because it is specifically prescribed and so blatant, serves to overshadow, and thereby give cover to, less obvious forms of abusive treatment.
	Corporal punishment is deemed by its users and defenders as being in the children's best interest and essential to the smooth functioning of the school.
	Were that true, schools that are the most punitive would be the highest performing, children who are routinely punished would be the best behaved, and teachers' colleges would teach paddling.
	In fact, school systems with the highest rates of corporal punishment are the worst performing.
	Children who are the most punished are also the most troubled and difficult to manage, and there is not one accredited college in the United States that instructs future educators in the proper method for hitting children.
	Documented research shows a correlation between school corporal punishment and certain negative social outcomes.
	States that have the highest rates of school paddling also have the lowest graduation rates, the highest rates of teen pregnancy, the highest incarceration rates, and the highest murder rates.
	The use of corporal punishment in schools also has a demoralizing effect on teachers who don't condone the practice.
	They have difficulty working alongside paddlers.
	Their survival in such an environment depends on their willingness to remain silent about what they witness.
	They know that paddlers feel threatened by their very presence.
	It's not unusual for a paddling school to degenerate to a level where it is nothing more than a magnet and safe haven for incompetent teachers, including some who are dangerously unfit to be left in charge of children.
	Teachers who favor a power-based management style, including the use of corporal punishment, sometimes rise to positions of authority, where they set a bad example for everyone under their control and influence.
	A teacher recounts this experience when he applied for a position in such a place.
	The interview began with the director asking me how I felt about corporal punishment.
	I told him that I disapproved of it and that I couldn't and wouldn't do it.
	He replied, Well, since that's the way you feel, you have no use to us here.
	And the interview was over.
	School corporate punishment has disappeared nearly everywhere in the developed world.
	Not one country in Europe permits it, and abolition is spreading at a rapid pace among developing nations.
	Virtually nowhere is there any movement within governments or among educators to reverse this trend and return to the old ways.
	Only one country on record temporarily revoked its prohibition against hitting students.
	Germany, during the Nazi era.
	Meanwhile, approximately one quarter of a million beatings are inflicted on students in schools of the United States every year.
	What should enlightened, responsible parents do about corporal punishment in their schools?
	If you knew that a school bus had bald tires and faulty brakes, you would not let your child ride that bus, and you would demand that your school authorities correct the problem immediately.
	If you knew that the air ducts in your school were contaminated with asbestos and the classrooms were painted with lead-based paint, you'd remove your child immediately and alert other parents to the danger.
	Corporal punishment is no different.
	It is very dangerous, and all sensible people in the community should unite in opposition to it.
	Thank you so much for listening.
	This has been Plain Talk About Spanking by Jordan Riak, read by Stefan Molyneux, host of Free Domain Radio.

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