Name: Sariah Madsen
ARFL-Robinson
Concurrent Enrollment Essay
 Spanking
 If you were a parent, would you consider it violent to spank your child with an open
hand on the buttocks if the child were disobedient? To slap the child across the
face?
 Is it acceptable to spank your small child to teach him/her not to run into a busy
street? To spank because you are angry?
 Is it acceptable to spank a child who is wearing a well-padded diaper? What about
slapping a child’s hand?
 In general, under what conditions do you feel it is acceptable to use physical
punishment with a child?
 Is the age of the child a factor in your decision?
Being a parent there are different kinds of discipline; with spanking there are many different
views, but my personal view is; if the child was repeatedly disobeying I would give them a spanking,
Not a violent one and not repeatedly but more of a swat to their little bottoms. If they don’t feel that they
should listen to you then you should give them one little pat on the buttocks to get their complete
attention and then they will learn to not do those things that you disapprove of because they know the
consequences. I am totally against slapping a child across the face; that is degrading and disrespectful in
my opinion. I consider that more toward abuse and shouldn’t be done to show them that what they did
was wrong. I grew up in a family where for years, putting soap in the mouth was called for; such as
sassing and calling people names, that is far better than slapping a child in the face. Spanking and
slapping are totally different in my book.
A swat to the bottom is also in order if they were to say; dash into the street, the spank on their
hinny will carry more of an impression then waiting to get home to have a ‘time out.’ When a child runs
into a busy street that is a very scary moment and their life is in danger. A good parent would be very
upset if the child’s life was in danger, so then it would be okay to give them a spanking on the buttocks
because they would remember what happened when they had done that and they would never try
crossing the busy street again. You only need to give your child a spank/pat on the buttocks to teach
them that what they did was wrong and harmful and most importantly to explain what they did wrong
and why you swatted them. I believe that most times a time out is in order, but sometimes a quick swat
to their hinny teaches them as well. Never spank without your reasoning behind it and never, ever spank
out of anger. If you were spanking your child out of anger then you need help and get those children
somewhere safe because most of the time it isn’t their fault that you lost your cool.
When you spank a child it doesn’t matter at all if they are wearing a well-padded diaper or if
they are in their underwear or with nothing on at all. As long as you aren’t hitting hard, doing it
repeatedly, or doing it out of anger. When you do spank them you are supposed to do it lightly but hard
enough for them to take you serious and to know what is going to happen if they do something wrong.
Just because they may have a well-padded diaper doesn’t mean that you could hit them harder than a
baby with a bare bottom. Slapping a child’s hand is like the same thing, as long as you do it lightly but
hard enough that they will remember that is what happens when they do something unacceptable; like
playing in the toilet, so pretty much only when their health is at stake. This doesn’t mean that you could
use a ruler like in the olden days, you use your hand. A parent has to be careful to not slap a child’s hand
when a child has hit someone, or another child; it will confuse them, they will not understand why it is
okay for you to hit them just because they hit someone.
I think that it would be okay to use physical punishment with your child if they did something to
endanger themselves or others, whether with the family or with friends. For example; if they crossed on
a busy road without an adult or refusing to hold someone’s hand then I would definitely give them a
smack on the bottom because that would scare a parent so much because a child could lose their life for
that stunt that they tried to pull. By spanking them in situations like these, then they would understand
that was a scary and bad thing they did and never do it again. A time where using physical abuse would
be unacceptable is if you get angry or are upset about something and then you take that out on the child
and go after them and just continually hit or spank them; that definitely is abuse.
The age of a child doesn’t really affect the way that I see it. Whether they are 12 months or six
years old I think that it would be just fine to give them a spanking because a one year old should be
learning what things are a no-no and then a six year old should know perfectly well what things are
acceptable and not acceptable. If they do something minor then no, they shouldn’t get a spanking, and
maybe a time out would be in order. But if they were to do something absolutely unacceptable then of
course they should get a spanking so then they will be able to learn from their mistakes. I will admit that
this is not a cut-and-dry issue. Both sides of the coin have good arguments and every parent should take
the time to think this issue through. I do not believe that a loving and caring family will damage a child
by using a swat to the bottom as part of their discipline. It is interesting to note that years ago there were
children that became teenagers and then became adults and the fact of the matter is those children raised
years ago with spankings (not beatings) became respectful, self-assured adults and there was far less
crime, mass shootings and suicides; just something to think about.
Essay Writing Rubric
 Ideas: Good information, details, specific, clarity, focus
 Organization: Structure, intro, logical order, transitions, strong ending
 Voice: Bring to life, personality of writer, shows knowledge
 Word Choice: Clear, precise, colorful, strong verbs
 Sentence Fluency: Rhythmic, flows, no fragments
 Conventions: Grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization