PEDIATRICS Vol. 66 No. 4 October 1980, pp. 639-641
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The Pediatrician and Corporal Punishment

Morris A. Wessel MD1

1 878 Howard Ave, New Haven, Connecticut

Concern about child abuse causes many pediatricians to question the widespread use of corporal punishment as a method of disciplining children.

The "spare the rod and spoil the child" philosophy is deeply ingrained in American child rearing. This allows—indeed encourages—many parents and other adults caring for children to spank or hit with the hand, belt, or paddle, or to force a child to stand for long periods of time or to institute other immoderate measures when disciplining seems to be necessary. This acceptance of corporal punishment as a way of dealing with children poses an important question: Why is this true in America while in Luxemburg, Holland, Austria, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Cyprus, Japan, Ecuador, Iceland, Italy, Jordan, Mauritius, Norway, Israel, The Philippines, Portugal, and Russia, legislation prohibits the use of corporal punishment by educational personnel? And in Sweden, this prohibition now includes parents!1