The implications of using violence against children.

The implications of using any type of violence against children. Let's start by defining violence so we are all in full understanding of what i mean when i talk about violence throughout this article. Violence: behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. When addressing any situation involving humans and especially when involving children all you need to examine is if the act followed any of this protocol in its simplest forms to have a full understanding that the act was in fact violence. Yes, or no. That's it. There is no… “but…” it is indeed an act of violence or it isn't. Period. Once you have a full understanding of the scope of the word violence we could address the word “children” but my position has already been stated as “humans”. All humans, especially children deserve to not have violence inflicted upon them. Examples of physical punishment cited throughout this site are spanking, yelling, slapping or shaking.

Let's look at some statistics on the matter… shall we? There is overwhelming evidence that physical punishment is both ineffective and harmful to child development. An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal analyzed two decades of data and concluded that spanking has no upside, and its downsides include increased risk for depression, anxiety, substance abuse and aggressive behavior later in life. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Od7OTTvp6cnWJH4mL_l_BJdXSlFL_bso/view?usp=drivesdk The analysis was conducted by Dr. Joan Durrant of the family medicine and social sciences department at the University of Manitoba and Ron Ensom, of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. It was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. "Research showing the risks associated with physical punishment is robust," the researchers wrote.

Early experiments had shown that pain elicits reflexive aggression. In an early modeling study, boys in grade one who had watched a one-minute video of a boy being yelled at, shaken and spanked with a paddle for misbehaving showed more aggression while playing with dolls than boys who had watched a one-minute video of nonviolent responses to misbehaviour. http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(17)31377-X/fulltext Analysis showed a significant positive association between corporal punishment and physical perpetration of dating violence. The bottom line is pain poses harm not outweighed by potential benefit. Randomized control trials showed that physical punishment was no more effective than other methods in eliciting compliance. In one such study, an average of eight spankings in a single session was needed to elicit compliance, and there was “no support for the necessity of the physical punishment.” Day DE, Roberts M. An analysis of the physical punishment component of a parent training program. J Abnorm Child Psychol 1983;11:141–52 As recently as 20 years ago, physical punishment was generally considered an efficient way to control an unruly child. However, this perspective began to change as studies found links between 'normative' physical punishment and child aggression, delinquency and spousal assault. Virtually without exception, these studies found that physical punishment was associated with higher levels of aggression against parents, siblings, peers and spouses. One study of 500 families indicated that children were less likely to challenge adults when parents were trained to stop punishing them physically. Other studies suggested physical punishment was not more effective than positive discipline measures to improve behaviour. Many of the studies linked physical punishment with mental health problems including depression, anxiety, and drug and alcohol abuse. Others also tied it to lower academic performance and slower cognitive development. It's pretty simple. The best way to live a morally sound and ethical life is to refrain from initiating violence onto other humans - unless it is self defense. So why in the world would you rationalize initiating violence on a child. A child who, by the way, looks to you at what to emulate in their immediate and distant future.