Years and years of scientific studies have all reached the same conclusion, corporal punishment doesn't result in better behaved children, to the contrary, it often results in child abuse and injury and trains young humans to grow up and use violence to force the reaction they want from people.
Often adults misread their own power and unintentionally injure children when they hit to discipline. Too often.
There is not a credible peer reviewed scientific study supporting spanking, the results are all the same. Every western psychology and pediatric association agrees.
If hitting children is okay, I suggest rather than risking injury by hitting too hard, just spit on your child.
It is the same thing but much safer. You still get all the humiliation to the child that you get from hitting them and the dominance factor but you don't risk physical damage.
Spitting on your kids is a much safer substitute for hitting.
If you are repulsed at the idea of spitting on a child, how is it okay to hit them?
As new parents learn alternatives ways to discipline, like logic and reason, less of them will end up on websleuths after losing control on their kid.
"The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychoanalytic Association are among many national and international organizations which have comprehensive position statements calling for a ban on physical punishment and describing effective alternatives. The American Academy of Pediatrics concludes:
"Corporal punishment is of limited effectiveness and has potentially deleterious side effects. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents be encouraged and assisted in the development of methods other than spanking for managing undesired behavior.
From a public health perspective, three issues are crucial to decreasing physical punishment: education (about infant and child development); legislation (to aid parents who are at risk and to protect the children); and continued research (especially on the alternatives).
If we truly want a less violent society, not hitting our children is a good place to start.
Why Physical Punishment Does Not Work
Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blo.../201404/why-physical-punishment-does-not-work
"The meta-analysis also demonstrates that the frequency and severity of the corporal punishment matters. The more often or more harshly a child was hit, the more likely they are to be aggressive or to have mental health problems."
Is Corporal Punishment an Effective Means of Discipline?
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2002/06/spanking.aspx
"By 2000, research was proliferating, and the convention had been ratified by 191 of the worlds 196 countries, 11 of which had prohibited all physical punishment. Today, research showing the risks associated with physical punishment is robust, the convention has been integrated into the legal and policy frameworks of many nations, and
31 countries have enacted prohibitions against the physical punishment of children. These three forces research, the convention and law reform have altered the landscape of physical punishment."
Physical punishment of children: lessons from 20 years of research
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3447048/
"In the meta-analysis, researchers Elizabeth Gershoff and Andrew Grogan-Kaylor from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, respectively, evaluated 75 published studies on the relationship between spanking by parents and various behavioral, emotional, cognitive and physical outcomes among their kids. They found that
spanking was associated with 13 out of a total of 17 negative outcomes they assessed, including increased aggression and behavioral and mental health problems as well as reduced cognitive ability and self-esteem."
"Studies continue to find that spanking predicts negative behavior changesthere are no studies showing that kids improve.."
What Science Saysand Doesn'tabout Spanking
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-science-says-and-doesn-t-about-spanking/