Quote:
Originally posted by Attalus:
Spanking is also a quick way to stop wrong behavior. During the toddler stage, a child is not capably communicating in verbal ways, so some physical component, such as a wrist slap, is simply negative reinforcement.
|
No it's not... reinforcement is something that encourages behaviour to continue. The positive and negative refer to whether something is added (positive) or taken away (negative). So to encourage good behaviour we might positively reinforce (give treat), or negatively reinforce (take away a chore they don't like to do). Spanking is punishment - it aims to discourage bad behaviour [img]smile.gif[/img]
Quote:
Originally posted by Gangrell:
But I think spanking, not slapping or hitting as Someguy said, is required because kids do need to know what is right and wrong and they can't grow up not knowing the difference if it isn't enforced.
|
I have to disagree with this statement - I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but your comment implies that kids should be smacked because otherwise they won't learn right and wrong and smacking is the only way to enforce rules. There are many other successful ways to teach good behaviour and discourage bad behaviour, that have been shown to work through extensive research. I'm not saying parents shouldn't smack, or it is not a good tool to teach right and wrong, but it is certainly not the only way.
My opinion, based on research and the logic of behaviour theory, is that any discipline technique will be effective if it is meaningful to the child, and applied consistently. Children must be able to predict the consequences of their behaviour, both good and bad, and have incentive to behave well, and the reason children don't learn right from wrong is not because they are or are not spanked, but because their parenting is inconsistent and unpredictable, or the rewards they get for behaving well are not worth it. I think it's good that spanking is losing favour, because I don't agree that it is necessary (although not for most of the reasons in the article), but I think it's a problem that now parents think they can't spank but aren't replacing spanking with effective consistent behaviour management strategies. There's a lot of 'Don't spank!', but not a lot of 'Do....' instead.