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Spanking can get kids to behave in a hurry, but new research suggests it can do more harm than good to their noggins. The study, involving hundreds of U.S. children, showed the more a child was spanked, the lower his or her IQ compared with others.

“All parents want smart children,” said study researcher Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire. “This research shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehavior in other ways can help that happen.”

First I don’t really agree with this statement, I was spanked as a child as was so many others from my generation and generations before me. Are we all stupid? Some of those that are stating this were probably even spanked, but they are labeled brilliant or at least as sources that can make statements as this. Why do I feel so strongly?

While I don’t agree that parents should beat their child I believe there are circumstances. What about the neighbor child that backhanded his mom the other day because he simply didn’t like her stating something? Or what about the boy that stabbed another kid with a pencil because he wouldn’t share the glue?  Another incident might be a 10 year old telling his mom he was going out, she replied “be back before the lights go on.” His response was, “or what mom. We’ll talk?” I witnessed most of the above (not the child stabbing) in the past few years and I must say I was shocked. Have our children become this disrespectful to adults. The answer is, most have. These days we are told don’t spank a child, instead talk to them calmly about what they did wrong and hope it never happens again. 

I think the word “Spanked” should definitely be defined in this case.

Spanking:  the act of slapping on the buttocks
Smack: the act of smacking something; a blow delivered with an open hand
Beat: hit repeatedly

I remember hearing stories of kids being hit with “ugly bats,” belts, fly swatters or even wooden spoons. Today those children are still smart, they grew up and did just the opposite of those parents. They don’t have lower IQs in fact some are smarter than the rest, granted they will probably never strike a child I still don’t think the “spanking” makes the lower IQ.

LA Times quoted:

The relationship between spanking and intelligence is found in children around the world, said the lead author of the study, University of New Hampshire professor Murray Straus. Children in the United States who were spanked had lower IQs — by 2.8 to 5 points — than those who were not spanked, Straus found.

Straus studied 806 children ages 2 to 4 and 704 ages 5 to 9. Both groups were retested four years later. How often parents spanked influenced IQ score. “The more spanking, the slower the development of the child’s mental ability,” Straus said in a news release. “But even small amounts of spanking made a difference.”

Straus and his colleagues looked at corporal punishment practices in 32 countries by surveying 17,404 university students. The analysis found a lower average IQ in nations in which spanking was more prevalent. The strongest link between corporal punishment and IQ was for those whose parents continued to use corporal punishment even when they were teenagers.

  A lower IQ could be a variety of things:
-  born that way (maybe mom and dad weren’t a genius)
-  not shown love
-  lack of proper nutrition
-  kept in the dark
-  treated invisible
-  treated as if they were dumb

I have read comments on another blog today where the person stated, “Could it not be that the person with the higher IQ was just always well-behaved?”  This brings up a very interesting thought. But back to spanking, yes, spanking hurts and should definitely be a last resort. But I do NOT think it will lower the IQ of a child…at least not alone. What do you think? Before you answer, were you spanked as a child and have a lower IQ than most? Watch the video below:

Post from: Blisstree

Does Spanking Cause Lower IQs?

Not my son, but the tantrum face is uncanny.

It all started last weekend at Lowe’s Home Improvement. The gorgeous weather lured us to walk through the garden shop – along with everyone else in the city – to consider all the things we should plant once we find the time to actually do something productive. We even picked out a few things, only to put them back after discovering it would take longer to stand in line to pay for our finds than it would to actually plant the flowers. The mere act of moving a blue flower from our buggy back to its spot in the garden center was enough to unglue my child. “But I want it!” he screamed. The screaming turned into wails and the flailing of arms. I leaned down to my son to quiet him because, after all, he was making quite a scene, when he suddenly reared back and swung an arm at me. I raised my hand and our hands connected, making a loud SLAP that startled us both. Rick quickly grabbed Truman and gave him a swat on the backside.

Honestly, it wasn’t so much a swat as it was a pat. A little tap on the rear to get his attention. We’re not opposed to spankings but they don’t really work on Truman. We usually take away a favorite toy and that gets us the best results. No kidding, but the few times we have spanked Truman he’s responded with a laugh.

Not this time. No, this time he began wailing and screaming, “You hurt me! Stop hurting me!” We were mortified. We looked at each other and sighed, picked up our sniffling son and headed to the car. As we walked past the long line of people waiting at the register, I heard one woman say loudly, “I was never spanked as a child. I just don’t see how people can do that!”

Give me a break. I looked at the woman, then at Rick, and rolled my eyes. She probably doesn’t have children or if she does, she probably doesn’t live in the real world.

The story should have ended there, with us heading on our merry way comforted in that none of the strangers there knew us. But it’s not that simple. Not when you’re married to the local television newsman who spends four hours a day on TV on the No. 1 morning news program in the state. There are just a few places in our relatively small town where he goes unnoticed. Lowe’s is not one of them. And now that morning newsman would get labeled as a public child-spanker. This, the man who loves his son so dearly that just talking about his little boy can move him to tears.

Luckily, DHR never came. The gossip never made it to the papers. And we have been able to walk into Lowe’s since without feeling disgraced. I have read from The Go-To Mom
that “disciplining children in public can humiliate, embarrass and anger your child even more. Plus with an audience, she knows how vulnerable you both are.”

If you were curious if that were true, then let our experience be your proof.

(photo, Flickr, hyperscholar)

JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

Public Discipline = Public Humiliation

I’m interested to know what the general consensus is on discipline. I’ve included a few polls on all of my blogs, in search of answers to a few questions. Please take the time to answer each poll question honestly. You will remain anonymous, so there is no pressure to give anything other than a completely honest answer. Thank you for your participation, in advance.

Post from: Blisstree

Are You My Mother? Then Why Are You Scolding Me?

Remember the great spanking debate?

After appearing on ABC’s “Supernanny,” two families with out-of-control children and differing parenting techniques join Dr. Keith to share their experiences before and after Nanny Jo made a house call.

If you’ve ever wondered how long the influence of Supernanny stays after she leaves, this is a great show to catch.

Let me know what you think…

Post from: Blisstree

Life After Supernanny – Today on Dr. Keith Ablow

California:  The state Legislature is about to weigh in on a question that stirs impassioned debate among moms and dads: Should parents spank their children?Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, wants to outlaw spanking children up to 3 years old. If she succeeds, California would become the first state in the nation to explicitly ban parents from smacking their kids.

Making a swat on the behind a misdemeanor might seem a bit much for some — and the chances of the idea becoming law appear slim, at best — but Lieber begs to differ.  Via Mercury News

Dear gussy, half my family would probably end up in prison if this one passes.  Being just a few miles north of the Bible Belt where they believe firmly in “sparing the rod, spoils the child” LITERALLY – this one is likely to cause quite a stir.

Anyone care to share their take?

hat tip

Post from: Blisstree

No-spank bill

I’m interested in learning what that means to our Super Nanny Rules readers.

So, what exactly does that scripture mean to you?  And how do you include that scripture in your everyday life, or do you?

Post from: Blisstree

SuperNanny – Spare the Rod – Discussion

One thing I noticed while watching this episode was that my definition of spanking is obviously very different from the definition of others.

To me, spanking is – paddling the fatty part of the rear – not a parent or adult going off on a rampage while flinging their arms every which direction and smacking the child wherever the hand lands.

During this particular show, the mother’s hand landed everywhere on the child except the rear.  That’s NOT spanking to me, that’s hitting/smacking and THAT is not right.

I have to admit, when JoJo had Jennifer spend THREE hours keeping Maddy in the corner – retrieving her when she’d run and placing her back; I thought that was a bit much.  That in itself was a game of cat and mouse.  In my home, I would have placed my child in the corner three times (the three strike rule) and then it would have been the paddle!
Paddling is a last resort! 

In the 13-years I’ve been a mother, I never had to bring out the big guns more than a couple of times.  That’s all it took for them to know that MOM meant Business!

If you ask my kids what my motto is, they will tell you “behave or be beaten” – but it’s always followed by a laugh.  We’ve kind of made it a family joke – but by the same token, we all have mutual respect for our boundaries – how far we can be pushed and not push hot buttons with one another.

I did like the Stuck in the Mud game that JoJo taught this family.  I think affection is SO important in all families!  That’s not an area that my family has ever been deficient in.  I’m always impressed at the fact that my 13-year-old boys will hug me, kiss my cheek and tell me they love me no matter what cool friend may be around.

I can’t imagine being forced to thrive in a family that suffered from such little affection like Thad and Jennifer’s family have been.  I’m very glad they uncovered their abilities to hug and love one another.

Post from: Blisstree

Review of last nights SuperNanny

If we are ever to turn toward a kindlier society and a safer world, a revulsion against the physical punishment of children would be a good place to start.

~ Dr. Benjamin Spock

What do you think?

Post from: Blisstree

Quote: Dr. Benjamin Spock

An article in the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette reports on the Lancaster (OH) Abuse Prevention Fund and how it are using Supernanny’s popularity to help educate parents and promote it’s no-spanking message. For more information visit their website at The Center for Effective Discipline.

Post from: Blisstree

Supernanny and the Center for Effective Discipline