Spanking, or corporal punishment (CP), may be on the road to becoming an endangered species, and there are people across the political and religious spectrums who will be saying good riddance. Until thirty years ago, CP was nearly universally used by parents on toddlers and was utilized somewhat less with children and adolescents. Despite its popularity among parents and teachers (as a child, I recall having a different take on the matter) CP has been banned in schools by legislation in twenty-six states, up from nine states in 1985, and a mere handful of states in 1975. An “abolitionist” movement has enjoyed legislative success in virtually every state where the ban proposals made it out of committee. . . .
. . . It is a matter of parental prudence and discretion. Removing such discretion from them by whatever means is a disservice to them and all families, and ultimately to good social order. This being said, CP is a tool that parents must use along with a heavy dose of love and affection, the parent’s own self-discipline, and clearly stated rules in the family. Those who use CP indiscriminately, who lack common sense, or self-control, or moral character, will use CP poorly simply because it will issue forth from them not as a matter of family law and a sense of the common good, but simply as another form of impulsiveness. It is not the use of this tool of CP that betrays a character flaw in the bad parent, but rather, it is the parent with a significant character flaw who uses CP badly.
