AMARILLO, TEXAS -- It's an age old question for parents when it comes to disciplining your children, and one that can cause great debate.
According to an article on Parents.com, the country's top medical and child-development experts -- basing their opinions on decades of accumulated research -- have urged parents not to spank.
Those agencies include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Those organizations claim spanking is potentially harmful to both parent and child, and that is just plain doesn't work.
Parents who voted in the parents.com web poll don't agree, 39 percent said they never spank their children, but 61 percent said they do. Five percent of these parents describe themselves as regular spankers; 56 percent say they spank occasionally.
Everywhere, they point out, are examples of children who need a good pop on the bottom, and they roll their eyes when the zealots describe spanking as child abuse. Parents who do spank their children argue that it's the parents who don't spank their children that are the abusers.
"The Bible says spare the rod, spoil the child." said Cathy Barron, mother of 3.
But other parents said they don't spank because they feel violence begets violence and that there are other ways to reinforce behavior.
Researchers from Tulane University released a study last year that suggested parents who spank their toddler children could look forward to more aggressive behavior when their little ones turn 5.
The study also highlighted the fact that spanking is still in wide use, says Catherine Taylor, assistant professor of community health sciences at Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
"More than half the mothers, about 55 percent, said they didn't spank, but that means that nearly half do," Taylor said.
So what do you think, is spanking an acceptable form of punishment? As a parent do you spank your child? Weigh in with our web poll below, and leave your opinion in the comments.
