National Initiative to End Corporal Punishment
You want to raise a child who is respectful, confident, and emotionally healthy without guilt, fear, or regret.
National Initiative to End Corporal Punishment
You want to raise a child who is respectful, confident, and emotionally healthy without guilt, fear, or regret.
Evidence-Based Discipline That Actually Works
When children act out, parents are often told that physical punishment is necessary to teach respect and prevent worse behavior later. But research now shows the opposite. Spanking and other forms of physical punishment:
Increase aggression & behavior problems
Harm children’s mental health
Damage trust between parent and child
Do not improve long-term behavior
Still, many parents feel stuck between what they were taught and what they feel is right. That tension creates stress, guilt, and confusion, for parents and children.
A Mother’s Lesson on Compassion and the Lasting Impact of Violence
When I was about 20 years old, I met an old pastor’s wife who told me that when she was young and had her first child, she didn’t believe in striking children, although spanking kids with a switch pulled from a tree was standard punishment at the time. But one day, when her son was four or five, he did something that she felt warranted a spanking–the first in his life. She told him that he would have to go outside himself and find a switch for her to hit him with. The boy was gone a long time. And when he came back in, he was crying. He said to her, “Mama, I couldn’t find a switch, but here’s a rock that you can throw at me.”
All of a sudden the mother understood how the situation felt from the child’s point of view: that if my mother wants to hurt me, then it makes no difference what she does it with; she might as well do it with a stone. And the mother took the boy into her lap, and they both cried. Then she laid the rock on a shelf in the kitchen to remind herself forever: never violence. And that is something I think everyone should keep in mind. Because if violence begins in the nursery one can raise children into violence.
– By Astrid Lindgren, author of Pippi Longstocking. Originally shared by Vivian Brault, founder of Directions, Inc.
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Did You Know
Paddling in schools is still allowed in 19 U.S. states.
Most parents in the U.S. believe spanking is necessary for discipline.
In over 1,500 research studies, most found that physical punishment is related to negative outcomes for children.
More than a dozen problems are linked to physical punishment, such as child behavior and mental health problems, difficulties with parents, violence, and health problems later in life.
A significant risk factor for physical abuse is parental use of physical punishment. An alternative approach to discipline is called “positive parenting” or “positive discipline”.
To date, 62 countries have banned all physical punishment of children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has called for an end to physical punishment.
With appropriate information and resources, parents can eliminate the use of physical punishment.
Break the Cycle. Choose Positive Discipline.
Parents and caregivers can shape a child’s future through guidance that teaches and protects without harm. Research shows positive parenting strengthens relationships, & safer communities.
You’re Not Alone, and You’re Not Wrong for Questioning This
Millions of parents and professionals are asking the same question: Is there a better way to discipline without hurting? The answer is yes, and it is backed by decades of research, child development science, & real world parenting experience.
A Better Way to Teach Without Hitting
Control their impulses
Manage big emotions
Resolve conflict
Understand consequences
Those skills take years to develop and are learned, not forced. Positive, non-violent discipline teaches skills instead of fear, builds emotional regulation, strengthens the parent-child relationship, and leads to better behavior over time. Children learn best when they feel safe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Physical punishment is any act intended to cause physical discomfort or pain to correct or control a child’s behavior. Under the laws of most states, physical punishment is considered abusive when it causes injury to the child. In most cases, physical punishment and physical abuse are not different behaviors. Rather, they are just lighter and harder forms of hitting and hurting children. Any time an adult physically punishes a child, there is a chance that the child will be injured. The distinction between physical punishment and physical abuse is actually arbitrary. Often, it is a matter of chance that the child is injured. Most of what we call ‘physical abuse’ is physical punishment.
In 2016, a meta-analysis was published that was based on more than 75 studies conducted over 50 years that involved 160,927 children (Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016). This meta-analysis found that even normative ‘spanking’ is reliably associated with higher levels of child aggression, antisocial behavior, and mental health problems; lower levels of self-esteem and academic performance; and poorer relationships with parents. Prospective studies that follow children over time consistently show that spanking increases behavior problems as children grow older. Experimental studies have shown that children’s behavior improves after parents stop using physical punishment.
Researchers across the US and all over the world have found that physical punishment can lead to harm regardless of the cultural context. They also have shown that all children learn best when they are not afraid of being hurt. In some places, physical punishment has become a tradition, handed down across generations. Most traditions are important to maintain because they preserve cultural knowledge and values. Physical punishment does not pass on unique cultural knowledge and it can be harmful. This recognition has led many cultures around the world to end this practice. These include countries in South America, Africa, Europe and Asia.
In many cultures, physical punishment is a lasting legacy of oppression, slavery and colonization. It did not exist in many Indigenous cultures before they were colonized. Over time, it became normalized within those cultures. In many Indigenous cultures, people are reclaiming their traditional approaches to parenting, which were based on modelling, storytelling, and including children in the work of the community.
There are religious texts that are interpreted by some clergy, theologians and religious scholars as requiring parents to physically punish their children. But there are many who disagree with those interpretations. Most parents want their children to learn the morals and standards consistent with their faith. Most parents also want the best for their children, not to cause them harm. Both of these objectives can be met with positive parenting techniques that teach children effectively and do not harm them.
US laws have not caught up with research findings. Many professional organizations in the US and other countries recommend that parents not use physical punishment because it puts children at risk for harm. These include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, and National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Laws that allow corporal punishment do make it harder for professionals to give a clear message to parents. But it’s very important that parents understand the many harms to which it can lead. When they understand its impact, they can make a more informed decision.