Have a guess: as a group, where will you find the largest number of people who hit children in an abusive way? The chances are that you got it wrong. The answer is Sweden. Not among adults, mind you - for Sweden totally outlawed all forms of physical discipline some 20 years ago. And they now have 500 times the number of cases - of older kids beating younger kids to pulp - than any neighboring country. 20 years of indiscipline has created a whole class of adolescents who have never been spanked once, and, for reasons yet to be determined, have no measurable degree of self discipline.
That is why we should give kudos to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which expressly ruled for the first time that parents may not be held
criminally liable for the use of “reasonable” force in disciplining
their children. Very wisely they did not define "reasonable" nor its counterpart "abuse" relying on lower courts to recognize when unreasonable or abusive force had been used, by way of common sense and not a check list of indicators.
The latest research into spankings all point to the same conclusion. A considered spanking - one that is sane and reasonably safe even if totally non-consensual - is the most effective tool for instilling the longest lasting change in improving behavior of young ones.
I would be very, very surprised if it turns out that in 20 years from now Massachusetts has the same wide-spread behavioral problems in its young adolescents that Sweden now faces.
No comments:
Post a Comment