Chelsea Green-Spanking

The topic that I chose for my research assignment is spanking. I chose this topic because it is a very touchy and controversial subject that many households are faced with in some point in time. It interests me because I have first hand experience with the action and it is interesting that there are many different views about it, many of which I would like to explore. I want to reveal the good, bad and ugly aspects behind this act.

Some of the questions I would like answered are: Is this punishment effective? How is spanking viewed through different ethnic backgrounds? What are the psychological effects on children receiving the spanking, and the parents giving the spanking? What alternative methods could be used to get a desired behavior out of a child? Is this act humane? How does society as a whole view this method of punishment? Should it be banned?

My hypothesis or stance behind the subject of spanking is that it should be justified, as it is an important aspect in the bringing up of young children. Spanking establishes guidelines for certain behaviors and puts emphasis on what is acceptable in the parent’s eyes or not. However the act of spanking should have boundaries and should not seriously injure children.

Some of the sources I plan to use are books on psychology of children from the library or any other books that go into detail about structures of households. I also plan to find scholarly articles on the Internet that deal with the subject matter and provide scientific evidence of the effects, social views on the action, and statistics or examples of behavior of children who were spanked and those who weren’t.

What I want readers to take away from this article is the pros and cons of punishing children. They may benefit from reading this article in the future with their own families when trying to figure out how to discipline their children. They should listen to me because I have had experience with the matter at hand and I believe that it strongly affects behavior of children as they emerge into adolescence and adulthood.