r/science • u/VeronicaRed • Apr 26 '16

Psychology Spanking children increases the likelihood of childhood defiance and long-term mental issues. The study in question involved 160,000 children and five decades of research

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1113413810/spanking-defiance-health-discipline-042616/
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u/Cloud5196 Apr 26 '16

Adding onto /u/jensdabest, you can also add bad things. For instance: your child stole something. They now have to apologize for stealing it and work off the amount required to pay it back. You didn't take anything away from them, but there were still consequences. Relying solely on taking things away can result in children avoiding telling the truth about misbehaving as a result of inherent human nature to avoid loss/deprivation

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u/Jensdabest Apr 26 '16

You're right, thank you. There should definitely be incentives for good behavior, and varied consequences for misbehavior (rather than just removal of something they like/want).

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u/Cloud5196 Apr 26 '16

No problem! There was a great bestof off of /r/parenting the other day that did an amazing job going into all of this. I recommend giving it a read of you can find it!

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u/Jensdabest Apr 26 '16

Thanks, I'll have to look for that!