Canada considers banning spanking

If Canada bans spanking, should U.S. follow suit?
Posted on: 5:32 am, September 7, 2012, by Will C. Holden, updated on: 05:37am, September 7, 2012


Should spanking be banned? Our neighbors to the north are considering it after barrage of new studies by certified medical journals.

The Toronto Glove and Mail is reporting that the “Canadian Medical Association Journal” has urged its country to ban the practice of spanking outright by changing legislation to make it illegal.

“I’m not sure the message has got out that regular physical punishment isn’t a good way to get kids to behave properly and can lead to later problems,” CMAJ editor-in-chief John Fletcher said. “It is time for Canada to remove this anachronistic excuse for poor parenting from the statute book.”

Fletcher cited a growing stack of evidence from his colleagues about spanking’s potential harms.

A 2010 study by “Pediatrics” magazine suggested spanking can lead to children acting aggressively. The University of Manitoba and the the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario performed a study which researchers say proves spanked children are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

But spanking proponents point to one key part of the data in most of the Canadian studies. A researcher from the University of Manitoba said that the sort of physical altercation that tends to led to trouble involves involves “more than just a tap on the bum.”

Those who dismiss researchers’ claims about the harms of spanking say there’s a key difference between a mild swat and prolonged physical abuse.

What do you think? Did you turn out fine or did you have difficulties after being spanked as a child? Do you spank your children today? Why or why not? Do you think the U.S. should or should not consider a similar ban?

Suzi wrote:They did that years ago the result is a bunch of really terrible teen aged brats. One fellow hubby worked with told his 14 year old daughter she couldn't leave the house at 10:00 at night, she told him "I'm going and if you try to stop me I will call the child welfare", those fools allowed her to threaten them and leave. I would have called her bluff , told her she was leaving over my dead body or hers, and to go pack her stuff so she would be ready to go when the child welfare people showed up! No way I would have allowed a kid of mine to pull that crap, law or no law.

Shale wrote:Yeah, if a teen is old enuf to pull that kind of shit they are old enuf to leave home. That is what my stepfather (an out of shape office worker) said to my stepbrother when he got defiant. The kid could have easily taken the old man, but he said as long as he was under his roof he lived by his rules and that he would call the cops and when the kid got out of jail would find someplace else to live.

If the state is going to interfere with the logical balance of power in a family, they had best be ready to take the miscreant kids and find other accommodations for them.

And, a smack on the butt is effective with little kids who don't always understand other forms of 'reason.'

Suzi wrote:They did that years ago the result is a bunch of really terrible teen aged brats. One fellow hubby worked with told his 14 year old daughter she couldn't leave the house at 10:00 at night, she told him "I'm going and if you try to stop me I will call the child welfare", those fools allowed her to threaten them and leave. I would have called her bluff , told her she was leaving over my dead body or hers, and to go pack her stuff so she would be ready to go when the child welfare people showed up! No way I would have allowed a kid of mine to pull that crap, law or no law.

Suzi wrote: But Shale you just advocated total freedom for kids, can't have it both ways.

Marc™ wrote:Not to hate on anybody that might be from Canada, but that country is becoming straight up kookish. They go too far out of their way to come off as so liberal and neighborly.

No the US shouldn't follow suit. Aside from universal healthcare, there isn't anything about Canada that I'd like the US to emulate.