JOIN USSpanking leaves kids more aggressive
In a strong evidence against the use of spanking, a study involving nearly 2,500 youngsters found that those who were spanked more frequently at the age of three were more likely to be aggressive by the age of five.
“The odds of a child being more aggressive at the age of five if he had been spanked more than twice in the month before the study began increased by 50 per cent,” said lead author Catherine Taylor from the Tulane University. However, they observed that “it’s not just that children who are more aggressive are more likely to be spanked.”
“I’m excited by the idea that there is now some nice hard data that can back up clinicians when they share their caution with parents against using corporal punishment,” said Dr Jayne Singer, clinical director of the child and parent programme at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Compared with children who were not hit, those who were spanked were more likely to be defiant, demand immediate satisfaction of their wants and needs, get frustrated easily, have temper tantrums and lash out physically against others.
For children to understand what and why they have done something wrong, it may take repeated efforts on the parent’s part, using time-outs — a strategy that typically involves denying the child any attention, praise or interaction with parents for a specified period of time.These quiet times force children to calm down and learn to think on their emotions, rather than acting out on them blindly.
PTI