Physical punishment: Destructive rods stunt little minds’ potential, produce negative impacts

Mrs Ronke Hammed, a mother of three, is worried about how to ensure that her 11 months old son takes to corrections.  Unlike the older sisters, he goes from tearing books, colouring the wall to fighting the sister over her food.

“Except you shout, when he is throwing tantrum, he will not stop. Sometimes, I am tempted to beat him using a small stick, when I get upset. Maybe if his father was more around, he would help to ensure that he is less troublesome,” she said.

Also, as a result of Mr Adeniyi’s endless beatings, Henry, a 10-year-old junior secondary school two student often had trouble concentrating in mathematics classes.

“I remember the day I gave a wrong answer in class; Mr Adeniyi angrily lashed out at me with his cane and asked me to go kneel under the sun outside. After that day, my anxiety increased so much that I was even scared to ask questions in class. As you would expect, I failed mathematics miserably that session,” Henry said.

Despite a growing body of research showing that spanking, slapping, hitting with an object and other forms of physical discipline can pose serious risks to children, it is still commonly done by many parents and caregivers. It is seen as a normal, necessary, and expected part of parenting “for the benefit” of children.  They say “spare the rod and spoil the child”.

Corporal punishment is a form of violence against children; it is an adverse childhood experience. In a preliminary study at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, University of Ibadan on the perception of children on corporal punishment, 49 per cent of children interviewed said it made them dislike school and 48 per cent said that it made them hate their teachers. Still, 65 per cent said that it made them angry a lot. Only 60% agreed that it helped to change their behaviour.

Director, Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Dr Tolulope Bella-Awusah, said corporal punishment is something that many people assumed that will not have any negative effect.

She stated, “The negative effects of corporal punishment, mostly from the western world include bullying other children, being aggressive in resolving conflicts, living in fear and poor self-esteem. It has been associated with increased risk of depression, anxiety and personality problems.”

Dr Bella-Awusah said stories are told about a child spanked that became injured, disabled or even died due to very harsh corporal punishment and so the need to eliminate the practice.

According to her, “There are healthier alternative ways to discipline children. They need discipline. The idea is not to leave them to misbehave. We need to correct and guide them. We need to do it in ways that will protect their physical and emotional health.”

“We know that it is not all young people that are negatively affected; some people manage to pull through without any negative effect. That is why there is the need for more research, especially in our context looking at what differentiates those who experience negative effects from those who don’t,” she added.

Also, Dr Haleem Abdulrahman, a consultant psychiatrist at University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan stated that spanking an 11-month-old baby when acting naughty is not advisable as such a child does not understand the concept of right and wrong.

“You are just unnecessarily harming the baby then. What is best to do for infants, especially those below one year is to talk to them and move them away from that point but not with spanking,” he said.

Dr Abdulrahman said spanking if to be done at all, should be in such a way that there are no injuries or lasting scars on the child and such a child must also understand that the spanking is a consequence of bad behaviour.

“It should not be abusive but to help build good morals. So, in this case, it’s not because you hate him or you are angry but that you don’t want him to continue doing that thing. And that is also different from using penalties. Recently, we’ve been saying that it is better to give penalties rather than punishment.”

Dr Abdulraham said in situations where a child does both right thing and wrong and still gets punished or scolded; does his best and yet is victimized or scolded, or talked down on any time he makes a mistake, is tantamount to abuse and such a child could grow up with a mindset of nonchalance.

He added, “Such a child may become deliberately disruptive; he may not obey rules and argue unnecessarily.  He may also go on to start bullying other people, destroying properties, going away from school or running away from home. All these behaviours fall under conduct disorder, and can be a consequence of the poor upbringing.”

The message sent to children through corporal punishment is one of aggression. A threat to use physical or psychological violence on children is even more than the actual physical punishment. Both have an important effect on a child’s psychological health later in life, including intellectual disabilities, even as adults.  It is not worth it.