Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Every year 3.3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving nearly 6 million children according to National Child Abuse Hotline. The United States has the worst record in the industrialized nation losing five children every day due to abuse related deaths. Corporal punishment is the intentional infliction of physical pain as a method of changing behavior. It may include methods such as hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, use of various objects paddles, belts, sticks, or others, or painful body postures. Corporal punishment should be banned from homes and school because it can impair a child for his whole life by causing psychological injuries, physical injuries and child behaviour.
First, corporal punishment can cause several problems in the emotional development of the child, such as depression and anxiety. As declared by the state’s child advocates Jeanne Milstein “According to Michael Schwarzschild, past president of the Connecticut Psychological association, the repercussions o corporal punishment is one of the biggest issues at the core of mental health” in her article. Depression will make the child have low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. In the United States, around 3.4% of people with major depression commit suicide, and up to 60% of people who commit suicide had depression or another mood disorder. Anxiety disorders affect one in eight children who suffered child abuse in the United States. Children with anxiety disorders are at higher risk to perform poorly in school, miss out on important social experiences, and engage in substance abuse. Banning corporal punishment in homes and schools will lower the number of children with metal disorders in our society.
Second, physical corporal punishment, such as punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning or otherwise harming a child can lead to serious injuries like a scars and broken bone. Physical punishment will influence the child to become more violent. When I was a child, I remember like if it was yesterday, I broke one of my mom’s Italian Murrano crystals she had in the living room because I was running around the house with my friend, and I slammed my arm at one of the pieces dropping it to the ground smashing it into pieces. Then she came running into to the living room with a belt in her hand and hit me so hard that it cut my skin living a scarf on my back, which I carry it until today. That anger I felt when she hit me, I can feel it until today because it really stuck to my mind like a horror movie scene that never comes out of you mind, and every time you close your eyes you can clearly visualize it again. I thought that it was unnecessary to spank me so hard because of a piece of glass. Beating a child can sometimes lead to a broken
