EDITORIAL – Spanking ban not necessary

To spank or not to spank – that is Massachusetts’ question.

Massachusetts nurse Kathleen… To spank or not to spank – that is Massachusetts’ question.

Massachusetts nurse Kathleen Wolf has proposed a bill – affectionately referred to as the “anti-spanking bill” – to the state’s legislature that, if passed, would make the “willful infliction of physical pain or injurious or humiliating treatment” of those 18 years old or younger a crime, according to the Boston Globe.

Wolf, who has conceded that the bill has no chance of becoming a law, hopes that the legislation will bring attention to the overly harsh punishment of children.

And attention she got. Since its inception, the bill has sparked an intense media debate over whether it is the decision of parents or lawmakers to decide when it’s appropriate to spank children.

Many psychologists argue that spanking is actually a healthy procedure.

Evelyn Reilly of the Massachusetts Family Institute even argues that the procedure gives children “a sense of security to know that there is someone who is willing, even though reluctantly, to administer a non-injurious, judicious spanking.”

Others insist that spanking promotes the use of physical force against children, and thus, could be deemed as child abuse.

In itself, the act of spanking is fairly innocuous. And it can be an effective way of teaching children wrong from right, particularly children who don’t respond to verbal warnings and other types of punishments.

But there is also a fine line between using physical means to punish children and physically abusing them. And by avoiding any legal addressing of spanking, we could be, in fact, opening up the door to other types of physical contact toward children.

Spanking a child in the privacy of one’s home might be appropriate, but what if the action was performed in public? Grabbing a child in order to restrain him or her from running away or getting hurt is fine, but what if a parent grabs a child as an expression of anger?

While Wolf’s bill is farfetched, it might be the appropriate way of opening up a public discussion on what type of physical punishments toward children should be deemed appropriate. Massachusetts probably isn’t going to ban spanking outright, but the bill could bring about more detailed policy on what type behaviors are and aren’t allowed toward children.

Child abuse remains a problem in our country, so any type of public discussion about what constitutes child abuse in and outside of the home is critical.

We just hope that lawmakers don’t go too far in legislating what, ultimately, is the decision of a parent.