To the Editor:
As a child analyst, I see the carnage of physical punishment every day in the office. Physical punishment is a major public health problem in this country.
Elizabeth Gershoff (Report on Physical Punishment in the United States) and Susan Bitensky (Corporal Punishment of Children) have recently summarized the data: physical punishment does not work; it makes things worse at every developmental level (it is associated with delinquency, antisocial behavior, abuse of one’ own children later on and so forth); and there are effective alternatives.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychoanalytic Association are among those calling for a ban on physical punishment and the use of effective alternatives. Crucial to decreasing physical punishment are education (about infant and child development), legislation (to help parents who are at risk and to protect the children) and additional research.
The prevalence of smoking has been cut in half in the past 40 years. Surely we can do the same with physical punishment.
Effective alternatives can be summed up as “words instead of actions.” If we truly want a less violent society, not hitting our children is a good place
to start.
PAUL C. HOLINGER
Chicago, March 30, 2011