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<\/a>By Bethany \u201cBST2\u201d Armstrong<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cSpare the Rod, Spoil the Child\u201d the preacher man sayeth. \u201cI was spanked when I was a kid and I turned out fine.\u201d says the lady that refuses to wear a mask and voted Trump. \u201cKids these days need discipline.\u201d says the gruff old farmer who is unable to express any emotion but anger.<\/p>\n
The American Academy of Pediatrics said more than twenty years ago\u2026 \u201cLook for alternatives to spanking\u201d. Two years ago\u2026 \u201cDon\u2019t Spank.\u201d They aren\u2019t alone. The American Medical Association, Psychologists for Social Responsibility. APA\u2019s Committee on Children, Youth and Families (CYF) and the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest plus a host of child-development experts and trauma experts agree. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the science: When you spank, scream, shame, verbally, emotionally, physically, or sexual abuse a child\u2026 the brain changes. First the brain releases Cortisol \u2013 the stress hormone, the fight or flight juice \u2013 then receptors, located all over your body, take in the cortisol, and start shutting down systems that are not high priority for survival.<\/p>\n
That little swat you gave because your precious child is having a developmentally appropriate tantrum? Because they had the gall to embarrass you in the Grocery Store? It screwed with their growth, their immune system, their reproductive system, their high-level thinking processes\u2026 What do you think happens when the one who should comfort a child when they are distressed is the very person who put them in distress? Nothing good. A breakdown of trust, a fear of authority, a lifetime battle with mental illness.<\/p>\n
Every smack increases the likelihood of future of drug-use, increased aggression, anxiety and depression, heart disease, digestive issues, weight gain, stunted mental, emotional, and physical growth\u2026 there are no good outcomes for children that are given corporal punishment. So why is it still happening?<\/p>\n
Well, part of it is religious dogma that advocates for harming children in an effort to make them \u201cless sinful\u201d or some such. Proverbs 22:15 \u201cFolly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.\u201d Proverbs 23:13 \u201cDo not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.\u201d Proverbs 20:30 \u201cBlows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts.\u201d Hebrews 12:6-7 \u201cFor the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of it is the outdated notion of parent \u201crights\u201d over their children, that human rights are only reserved for adults. The right to discipline, the right to force religious ideology, the right to withhold vaccinations or medical treatment, the right to leave them in front of an electronic babysitter\u2026 It\u2019s eerily similar to the mindset of less than a hundred years ago when a man \u201chad to\u201d discipline his wife, when a woman was considered less than human.<\/p>\n
Part of it is expedience. Your child is naughty, rebellious, pushing boundaries (DEVELOPMENTALLY NORMAL THINGS) and a slap will make them stop. That reinforces the idea that it works. It also gives a rush of self-righteousness to the person who delivers the blow. Then the shame and blame dominoes fall. Time to double down with some cognitive dissonance. Our hotdog brain just loves cycles.<\/p>\n
Part of it is some weird idea that just because you survived abuse, bullying, spanking or whatever TRAUMA, your offspring should have to as well. Because you turned out \u201cokay\u201d it\u2019s \u201cokay\u201d that your children suffer? If you were spanked, you are not okay. You have less gray matter, your vocabulary is lower, you\u2019re more aggressive and less empathetic. You could have been so much more. Happier, healthier, smarter\u2026 None of that is okay. Your experience sucked and I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n
Maya Angelou said \u201cDo the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now you know. Now you can research further. Now you can do better.<\/p>\n
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[AdSense-A] By Bethany \u201cBST2\u201d Armstrong \u201cSpare the Rod, Spoil the Child\u201d the preacher man sayeth. \u201cI was spanked when I was a kid and I turned out fine.\u201d says the lady that refuses to wear a mask and voted Trump. \u201cKids these days need discipline.\u201d says the gruff old farmer who is unable to express […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[24447],"class_list":["post-96908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-when-you-know-better-you-do-better"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96908"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}