Paula Montero and Lidia Moragues

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
INTRODUCTION
Welcome, weve gathered you today to talk you about a recent case that has
had a great impact on us and well like to share with you. Its about corporal
punishment. Firstly Im going to talk about the main differences between
discipline, punishment and order, then, Lidia is going to talk about physical
abuse, whereas Im talking about psychological affects after being suffered any
kind of corporal abuse, furthermore Lidia is going to talk about de difference
between physical abuse and corporal punishment and the conclusion and
recommendation. After all that there will be a round for any type of questions
feel free to ask, thank you for being here.
DIFERENCE BETWEEN DICIPLE, PUNISHMENT AND ORDER
The main difference between punishment and discipline is basically that the
punishment is a penalty for offence or a consequence that you have after doing
something in an inappropriate way, whereas discipline is training or behaving in
accordance of the rules. Consequently, order is a command or instruction to do
something given by someone in authority and it is also a word that most people
can confuse with the two words explained before.
PHYSICAL ABUSE
The worst case that we have to apply on kids when there is a bad behavior is
corporal punishment. Corporal punishment is based
A child is abused when his physical health and safety or psychological well-
being are endangered by the actions inflicted by their parents or by people who
have entrusted their care.
Abuse can occur either by action or by omission and negligence. It is
considered that there are two types of abuse:
- Physical abuse is any injury caused to the child as a result of strokes,
hair pulling, kicking, punctures intentionally inflicted by an adult. Also
damage caused by improper or disproportionate punishments. According
to the article 37 of the Convention, States Parties shall ensure that "no
child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment".
- You have no intent to injure, only intended to correct inappropriate
behavior. But, with the exception of the "little whip on time" (considered
by many parents as necessary, but survives the social debate on this),
which is excusable only when the child becomes refractory to any form of
correction is corporal punishment an attack on the dignity and self-
esteem of the child and can cause serious emotional damage.
Paula Montero and Lidia Moragues
Laws:
Article 19 provides that States should take measures to "protect the child from
all forms of physical or mental abuse". The Committee on the Rights of the
Child - the body responsible for monitoring compliance with the Convention -
has emphasized on numerous occasions that this includes the prohibition and
elimination of corporal punishment like the Committee has emphasized that
refers to any kind of corporal punishment, "even mild", offering a
comprehensive definition in General Comment 8: "... any punishment in which
physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort,
even mild. In most cases it is hitting children ('smacking', 'slapping', 'beating')
with the hand or with an object whip, stick, belt, shoe, wooden spoon, etc. But it
can also involve, for example, kicking, shaking or pushing children, scratching,
pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears, forcing children to stay in
uncomfortable positions, burning, forced ingestion scalding or products (for
example, washing children's mouths out with soap or forcing them to swallow
hot spices).
PSYCOLOGICAL EFFECTS AFTER BEING PHYSICAL ABUSED
Physical abuse not only causes physical injuries, it also causes psychological
ones.
- After being abused children, has two ways of responding: passive and
acceptance, meaning a sad and submissive behavior; or in a rebellious and
aggressive behavior, this aggression is often directed to other children.
- After suffering many injuries and scars in many ages the kid finds difficult to
establish deep and stable relationships.
- Self-esteem is not developed properly whenever theres an abuse and it is
accepted for the child.
- Intellectually speaking, these children often have a delay in their
development and learning difficulties for fear for a possible new error or
failure that can lead to a corporal punishment.
MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND PHYSICAL
ABUSE
Once weve explained physical and psychological effects, I would like to
emphasize the different between physical abuse and corporal punishment.
Unlike physical abuse physical punishment is defined as the use of physical
force with intent to cause pain, without injury, for the purpose of correcting or
controlling behavior. It is not always easy to know when it ends the "discipline"
and abuse begins. In contrast to physical abuse, corporal punishment is
widespread and socially accepted practice. However, constitutes a violation of
fundamental rights as people, is an attack on their dignity and self-esteem, is a
Paula Montero and Lidia Moragues
dangerous practice because it can cause serious harm to children and always a
form of psychological abuse that can lead to stress and depression. Children
with this type of punishment tend to reproduce antisocial behavior and become
violent adults.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Said in a personal way, we would recommend to apply disciple so that you child
grow up in better educational way. If he doesnt follow your rules, then a mind
punishment will be appropriate, but never in a corporal or hard psychological
way.
Another way to make a kid understand what he is doing wrong is making him
think about what he or she has done rather than imposing a punishment
directly.
As a last resort, if the kid doesnt change his behavior, a little whip on time
sometimes is considered as necessary, but always using it as a last resort.