INFORMEDdebate
Should spanking young
children be banned?
JUPITER IMAGES
YES
from members:
Noelia Hernandez
Gypsum, CO
Talking is the way to
deal with situations.
Mario Calafatello
Miller Place, NY
A child may be harmed
at a young age.
Vivian Le
West Covina, CA
Kids under 4 are
too young to understand right or wrong.
There are other
methods of punishment instead of spanking.
NO
from members:
California recently tried to introduce a bill making it illegal
to spank children younger than 4 years old. If it had passed, the
state would have become the first to make the corporal punish-
ment of infants and toddlers a misdemeanor punishable by up to
a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. More than a dozen countries,
mostly in Europe, already have laws against spanking.
Critics of the bill argue that it would be impossible to enforce
a ban against such a common practice and that education, not
legislation, is the method of choice to improve parenting prac-
tices, with the exception of those that are clearly abusive.
What do you think?
John Sorrow
Nashville, TN
Punish little children
when they misbehave,
not to the point of
abuse, but warm their
little bottoms up. That
should be the only place you hit.
Lorraine Patterson
Kent, WA
A light swat on the leg
sometimes corrects
dangerous behaviors.
The law should understand the difference
between abuse and discipline.
Find out more about this topic on the Web:
• www.aap.org/advocacy/childhealthmonth/spank.htm
• www.corpun.com/rules.htm
• http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2006/9241594365_eng.pdf
Ali Esmaili
Lakewood, OH
I had a few slaps on the
wrist growing up, which
probably kept me out of
trouble and on the path
to becoming a physician.
