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Parents Should Not Be Spanking Their Kids, and Here’s Why

Parents Magazine

Originally Posted: September 2020

While most parents spank their children at some point, experts advise against the disciplinary practice. Learn more about the negative psychological, behavioral, and emotional effects of spanking, and figure out better alternatives for discipline.

Few topics spark more debate among parents than spanking. But even though a majority of parents have used physical punishment on their children at some point, according to the including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), many experts and organizations, have spoken out against it.

“Parents who occasionally spank aren’t bad people,” explains George W. Holden, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Southern Methodist University and author of Parenting: A Dynamic Perspective, 2nd ed, who has studied the topic for about 25 years. “But there’s an amazing amount of research, and virtually all of it found significant negative effects associated with corporal punishment.” READ MORE