The Ugly Truth About Physical Abuse of Children

Sadly, we know that when parents are angry and lose control, "reasonable force" often escalates into full-blown abuse, and that’s when most infant homicides occur.

Associate Professor Susan Maloney from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians said that the majority of parents who accidentally kill or cause serious harm to their children say they were just trying to discipline them. 59 out of 165 child homicides in New South Wales alone between the years 1990 to 2005 were related to child abuse!

It’s an Ugly Fact That Almost 70% of Australian Parents Believe It’s Okay to Smack Their Children!

Most parents will tell you that they don’t want to hit their children, but they believe it’s the only way to discipline them. But disciplining children is designed to teach them, whereas physical punishment is designed to hurt them. Somewhere along the way we’ve become confused, and believe that in order to discipline a child we need to hurt them. However, parents forget that not only does smacking hurt physically, it also hurts emotionally.

The real truth is that most parents hit their children due to stress, exhaustion, or frustration on their part; which means that it’s the parents who are struggling to cope. Hitting a child is the easiest option, and requires limited time or effort. Simply put, parents don’t know what else to do! Unfortunately, research also shows that when parents are arguing with each other, being critical of, or insulting each other, their children are at twice the risk of being physically hit.

Does Smacking Change a Child’s Behaviour?

Yes, smacking a child will probably change their behaviour, short term, but at what cost? We know that children who are spanked are highly likely to develop aggressive behaviours themselves, and that childhood spanking has been associated with increased levels of withdrawal, depressive characteristics, and anxiety. In addition, spanking harms relationships and attachment to parents, and encourages children to become more secretive to ensure they don’t get caught. Most parents truly want a loving, close and trusting relationship with their children, but because they themselves were hit as children, they believe this must be the right way to discipline them. But, if the very people who are supposed to love and support you are the ones who are humiliating and hurting you, it doesn’t seem likely that loving and trusting relationships can result.

Smacking Doesn’t Help Children Learn about Appropriate Behaviour or Self-Control

The first obvious problem with hitting is that it tells children that hitting is okay. We now know that children who are being smacked are more likely to be aggressive than children who are not being smacked. We also know that unnecessarily hurting other people affects relationships. These children are going to be the adults of the future, so surely we should be raising these small adults in a nurturing and protective environment?

Doctors Call for Physical Punishment of Children to Be Made Illegal in Australia

Many of us were smacked when we were children, and statistics show that almost 70% of Australian parents are smacking their children today. The RACP has now called for the physical punishment of children to be made illegal in Australia, defining physical or corporal punishment as controlling a child’s behaviour by the use of physical force. This usually involves using your hand to smack a child, or an implement such as a belt or wooden spoon. It also includes shaking, biting, and kicking.

Interestingly, 33 countries have outlawed this form of discipline with the result that these countries are now able to very quickly identify children at risk of abuse, and their rates of child mortality associated with abuse are very low. According to the RACP, physical punishment is outdated, and we are violating children’s human rights when inflicting physical punishment on them. Additionally, under current laws, children are the only group not protected from physical violence. How shocking is that! The very defenceless people who need our protection are not getting it.

Under Australian law, parents can use "reasonable force" to discipline a child, but the only state to clarify what that actually means is New South Wales.

The Long-Term Effects of Physical Punishment on Children

President of the RACP, Associate Professor Susan Maloney, believes that it’s not necessary for physical punishment to become abuse in order for children to suffer long-term behavioural and mental issues. Maloney says children should never be subjected to physical punishment, and that there’s no safe threshold on how hard or the number of times you can smack your child.

Results of studies have shown that physical punishment of children results in a range of social and health consequences, in addition to the fact that it’s not even an effective form of discipline. Slapping or hitting children results in anxiety disorders, depression, personality disorders, and substance abuse later in life; it’s also associated with greater incidences of cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and obesity in adulthood. And, studies show that if children are smacked regularly at age 3, they’re more likely to be aggressive children at age 5.

Andrew Greenfield is a Child and Educational Psychologist who believes that smacking tells children it’s okay to hit other people. He believes these children learn that physical violence is the best way to resolve their problems.

When a child is being smacked, the person handing out the punishment wants the child to be fearful, and Greenfield points out that trying to achieve something through fear will never work. And, he points out that shouting and screaming are not effective either. They just further damage the child, and basically change who they are! Is that really what we want to do to our children?

It’s up to us as parents to ensure that our children grow up with a great sense of self-esteem and well-being, none of which can be achieved with physical violence.