Hàkon
12-09-2014, 11:05 PM
A few months ago, I made a thread (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?141294-Should-the-consumption-of-alcohol-and-or-drugs-during-pregnancy-become-a-crime) in which I asked for your take on alcohol and drug consumption during pregnancy, and whether it should be criminalized. Unsurprisingly, the majority voted against such untimely use of said substances, pointing to the risks involved - and above all, the potential shared social cost.
Now, keeping in mind the above mentioned main argument for the criminalization of drug and alcohol consumption during pregnancy, what about corporal punishment of children?
While it seems that the severity is still under debate, it is a confirmed fact that corporal punishment during childhood has a long list of adverse developmental, behavioural, and health-related consequences, meaning that every spanking parent is, in one way or another, subjecting society to a future problem.
http://cdn3.cdnme.se/cdn/9-1/1873235/images/2010/dsc06980_98460967.jpg
Pretty flower.
So, who are the main culprits? Well, parents, and other close family members. But the significant age interval during which the exposure to corporal punishment poses as the greatest threat to a child's development is 0-10 years, a time during which the main offenders are, lo and behold, women. How come? While interesting in itself, it's a topic to be discussed on it's own.
Anyway, considering the above, would it then surprise you that corporal punishment as a disciplinary method is more frequently used in the household of single mothers? Of course not. Parenting being stressful on its own, single parenthood is, most often, even greater a plight.
In the U.S., studies of the prevalence of corporal punishment show that members of the Black community, the community also worst plagued by single motherhood, hold more positive attitudes towards corporal punishment as well as apply it to a (much) greater extent in their parenting.
Wait, what?
The most crime- and poverty-ridden community in the U.S. is also the community in which single motherhood and corporal punishment of children is the most widespread? Is it just me on LSD or are you seeing a pattern as well?
Discuss.
(I am not trying to single out the U.S. Black community, in this case it's simply the best studied and the clearest example to use - the potential consequences of corporal punishment apply to all.)
Now, keeping in mind the above mentioned main argument for the criminalization of drug and alcohol consumption during pregnancy, what about corporal punishment of children?
While it seems that the severity is still under debate, it is a confirmed fact that corporal punishment during childhood has a long list of adverse developmental, behavioural, and health-related consequences, meaning that every spanking parent is, in one way or another, subjecting society to a future problem.
http://cdn3.cdnme.se/cdn/9-1/1873235/images/2010/dsc06980_98460967.jpg
Pretty flower.
So, who are the main culprits? Well, parents, and other close family members. But the significant age interval during which the exposure to corporal punishment poses as the greatest threat to a child's development is 0-10 years, a time during which the main offenders are, lo and behold, women. How come? While interesting in itself, it's a topic to be discussed on it's own.
Anyway, considering the above, would it then surprise you that corporal punishment as a disciplinary method is more frequently used in the household of single mothers? Of course not. Parenting being stressful on its own, single parenthood is, most often, even greater a plight.
In the U.S., studies of the prevalence of corporal punishment show that members of the Black community, the community also worst plagued by single motherhood, hold more positive attitudes towards corporal punishment as well as apply it to a (much) greater extent in their parenting.
Wait, what?
The most crime- and poverty-ridden community in the U.S. is also the community in which single motherhood and corporal punishment of children is the most widespread? Is it just me on LSD or are you seeing a pattern as well?
Discuss.
(I am not trying to single out the U.S. Black community, in this case it's simply the best studied and the clearest example to use - the potential consequences of corporal punishment apply to all.)