THERE have been reports that an eight-year-old American boy who shot his father and another man did so after having been spanked many times.

Does spanking help discipline children?

Some might say yes, it does.

When parents or teachers hit children for misbehaving, it tells the child that if someone does something wrong, hitting them is a way to rectify the issue.

Spanking works, but only in the short term.

While there is research to show that spanking is an effective means of discipline, other research indicates that non-violent methods work just as well, such as mentoring, counselling or simply reasoning with children.

I understand that older generations of parents used corporal punishment to discipline their children, and I don't deny that it had its intended effect.

However, such punishment will not work on today's children.

Children are getting smarter, and corporal punishment might not work as well on them.

Schools should employ caning as a last resort if students break school rules. Prior to punishing the students, schools should brief them on the consequences of disobeying the rules.

If you cane today's students, some become rebellious, or even skip school.

This is why schools provide counselling services, which make a lot of difference.

So, is there still a need for corporal punishment? Consider its long-term effects.

Spanking teaches children a lesson, but study after study in the last 40 years has shown that children also learn violence and other anti-social behaviour.

Furthermore, just hitting a child once could be enough to scar him or her emotionally.

Children's aggression should not be seen as an attack, but rather as a counter-attack - a type of defence mechanism.

Their anger at being spanked might prompt them to lash out at parents as a reflex.

The more parents spank a child, the less the child comes to fear it.

Studies of mothers and children, where the mothers inflict corporal punishment on their children, reveal that the children tend to respond with aggression.

The wounds might heal, but the scars may not go away.

Spanking also decreases the quality of the parent-child relationship, and could erode the trust established between parents and children in early childhood.

Affected children might also become bullies as they do not want to be taken advantage of outside the home.

It has been said that punishment reinforces the stigma of failure, and encourages rebellion, resentment and an urge for revenge.

For those who spank children, it says more about them than it does about the child.

It is not dignified, and is certainly not respectful.

There are other ways to motivate today's children, and parents have an important role to play in explaining right and wrong to children, and being good role models to them.

Mr Nur Suhardi Mohamed

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