Parenting: Corporal Punishment vs. Verbal Guidance

When it comes to raising and disciplining a child, we all know it's not an easy task at all. Given how fragile they still are, it's much more difficult to discipline them than it's to an adult, because sometimes our act of discipline can go overboard, leading to some issues with the child. Talking about discipline, some parents believe words of mouth are enough to get a child on the right path after an act of indiscipline, while others believe only corporal punishment can instill discipline in a child. Today I'll be exploring both and, in the end, stating my opinion between them.

Coming from an African home and being raised in this part of the world, the most popular form of punishment parents vested on their wards is corporal punishment; it's so common that even the child themselves already anticipate it after doing something wrong. Even though it seems effective and tends to make a child abstain from doing such again, personally, I don't think it's ideal, and my reasons are as follows:.

You see, I for one grew up under the same system and was punished at any slight act of wrongdoings or indiscipline; that act was taking a continuous toll on my mental wellbeing and only inspiring fear, even making me wonder if I'm truly part of the family, because I can't help but understand why you'll maltreat someone you call your child or nephew in such manners all in the name of discipline. On several occasions, believe me, I contemplated running away from the house and to never come back.

The truth is, even though those punishments stopped me from doing the same thing again, I find myself going back to them after a while or doing other things that I know are bad. You might be wondering why I did such. Well, the reason isn't Farfetch. It's just that I got to a point where I feel like the worst they can do is flog me, and my body is now accustomed to it, so I just indulge in this bad habit with a mindset that I'm hoping to get flogged after I'm done.

But something happened one particular day that changed everything and made me a more disciplined child, and on that faithful day I had indulged in probably one of the worst acts of wrongdoing I've ever done and was even caught in the act, so that very day I knew I was done for and ran away. I refuse to come back into the house even till midnight for fear that that particular day's punishment will be far worse; however, after a long time I was asked to come in with the assurance that I won't be punished; even though I don't believe them, I still went in, hoping to get the punishment over with.

However, unlike I expected, I wasn't flogged as usual; instead, I slept peacefully and wasn't even woken up to be flogged in the middle of the night like you used to in the past. On waking up in the morning, I saw both of my parents looking at me and was like, "Man, I'm dead." But rather than flog me, they just had a critical discussion with me, advising me and letting me know that I'm the driver of my own life, and if I continue on this path, then I'm only ruining my own life.

There and then I had a genuine change of heart and decided I wouldn't indulge in such or any wronging anymore, and till date I've stuck to that. The reason I changed, I believe, is because of how I was talked to; the words on their own are a far more impactful punishment that made me see the reality of things in a new light, and my parents themselves saw the difference, and I'm sure they themselves would wish they had used words more than corporal punishment, then they wouldn't have had much struggle with my indiscipline.

That being said, I'm not justifying that words should be the only means of punishment towards a child; there are times where words alone can't instill discipline in a child, and in such a situation, a spank won't be too much to get the results out. Being a teacher In a public school where it's said that students mustn't be corporally punished, I've come to see students become fearless, daring teachers because they know they won't be punished; this has led to a lot of indiscipline within the school system.

And that's why I'm of the opinion that both forms of punishment should be used towards raising a child in a morally upright way, although I believe words such should have the larger percentage, while corporal punishment should only come up once in a while when words fail to get the job done.

---

All photos are mine.

---