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Olivia Devenport

Professor Allison Fernley

English 1010

27 February 2019

Spanking Is Not The Way To Punish Your Child

At the time that the Portland Press Herald wrote this article “New advice from doctor: No

spanking your kids Science has shown that other parenting techniques are just as effective without

the negative effects”, Portland Press Herald claims that spanking your child will lead them to be

more disobedient, more aggressive, more depressed and less connected to their parents. This article

is intended for all parents now and upcoming parents in the future. Portland Press Herald wrote

this article to show parents that there is a better and more effective way like positive punishment

that will give parents and families a better outcome with their children.

Why should we choose another wat to discipline our children? The Portland Press states,

Science has shown that other parenting techniques are just as effective as spanking in promoting

good behavior without the negative effects. I agree, there are so many alternative solutions to

punishing your child rather than spanking. Like taking away a highly reinforced items like Xbox

or cell phones. There are other solutions like explaining to them what they did wrong and placing

them in time out. Not everything has to be focused on the negative side of getting in trouble. It is

vey effective to also praise your child when they are doing the right thing. No technique Is effective

all the time, but these techniques work as well as spanking in gaining child compliance and without

the harms (Portland Press).

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Yes, not all children that are spanked end up being disobedient, more aggressive, more

depressed and less connected to their parents. Some children will have a different outcome and

that’s okay cause not every child won’t have a negative effect. But not enough children are harmed

by it that we shouldn’t court the risk (Portland Press Herald). Science has shown through out the

years that there are definitely other parenting techniques that are just as effective to promoting

good behaviors and not harming the child. Family traditions can be one of those. Most people these

days have abended these once-common harmful practices like spanking with paddles and washing

you kids mouth out with soap. The article points out that spanking is certainly going to go away

like all the other harmful punishment ways we use. There are many places like Hospitals and whole

communities have become “no-hit zones”. Spanking and corporal punishment has been outlawed

in 54 countries (Portland Press). All of the articles I have read state great points and have great

evidence to show and help the generations to come to help move away from corporal punishment

other known as spanking. In recent articles I have read it does show that we are on the right track

and have made a big jump on parents choosing other effective ways to punish their children from

the late 90s until now. The Number of parents who spank their children has been on the decline.

In 2013 Harris Poll of 2,296 adults surveyed online found 67 percent of parents said they had

spanked their children and 33 percent had not. 1995, however, 80 percent of parents said they had

spanked their children while 19 percent said they had not (Christina Caron NYT).

Portland Press Herald’s audience of readers who are interested in bringing light to future

parents that there Is other ways to punish your child with a better more effective outcome. Being

part of this audience, I think Portland Press article is most effective because they have so much

scientific evidence to prove all of there points. The website’s content is delivered in an aggressive

but supportive manner. The Portland Press comes off very strong and bold in this article. It helps
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keep readers engaged. This article has scientific evidence and also a lot of knowledge behind other

alternative strategies to spanking thus making this article successful.

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Works Cited

“New advice from your doctor: No spanking your kids Science has shown that other

parenting techniques are just as effective without the negative effects.” Portland Press Herald;

Portland Me. [Portland, Me] (16 Nov. 2018): Page 1. ProQuest

Caron, Christina “Spanking Is Ineffective And Harmful To Children, Pediatricians’ Group

Says”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/health/spanking-harmful-study-pediatricians.html. New

York Times, 5 Nov. 2018