Who gets spanked?

January 25, 2007 · Posted in Mike's Blog 

I have three kids - Kei (7 years old), Vhi (5 years old), and Jae (2 months old). As a dad, I find myself from time to time scolding my children - especially the older two and I would also spank them at times so this article that I’ve read from LiveScience.com got my attention. The title says, “Study Reveals Who Gets Spanked“. Now that’s interesting.

Here are some points that got my attention:

Children in homes full of books and educational games are less likely to get spanked, new research shows.

And according to Andrew Grogan-Kaylor of the University of Michigan

A home environment that is intellectually stimulating gives children an opportunity to work through and practice their emotions, think through the consequences of their actions and imagine possibilities for alternative actions in the future, he said. “Allowing children to stretch their brains in that kind of way is allowing children to behave less anti-socially down the road,” he said.

Personally, I don’t know how that works but I have to admit that I agree with Grogan-Kaylor said. I grew up in a wildly-changing home environment. During the times when I lived in an intellectually stimulating environment, I seldom got spanked but during times when I lived in a “typical” home, I usually get the spanking more often. Why? Dunno.

One more thing that caught my attention in the article is what it said about Protestants:

The researchers also found that Protestants were more likely to spank than parents with other religious affiliations.

I believe this is so because of what is often taught in parenting seminars in Protestant churches and that is to not spare the rod often quoting Proverbs 13:24 which says, “He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.” Though I agree with that particular verse, I still think that there are Protestants who abuse this teaching and just keep on doing corporal punishment instead of teaching their children to behave properly which is exactly what Grogan-Kaylor said:

“To reduce the use of physical punishment, it may be beneficial to focus on interventions that teach parents to increase the amount of intellectual stimulation in the home,” said Grogan-Kaylor, who has also done research showing that children with fewer behavioral problems come from homes with increased intellectual stimulation.

Well oh well. In the end, I think its still how much caring, loving, time, and understanding you spend with your kids that determines how much spanking they get. The more parents talk with their children, the more they will understand each other. The more they understand each other, the lesser friction between them.



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