Many parents believe that if they don t spank, children will run wild and be uncontrollable. The alternative to spanking isn t to ignore misbehavior or to replace spanking with verbal attacks. Many parents already know and use other, non-violent ways of teaching and controlling behavior. Non-spanking parents also pay more attention to their children s behavior, both good and bad, than parents who spank do. Contrary to myth, most parents who spank tend to use it for almost any misbehavior.
Many parents spank before trying other methods.
Daily spanking is not uncommon, and parents who spank often don't realize how often they are hitting their children. Because violence is so common in our culture, many parents believe they need to prepare their children for the violence-filled real world by toughening them up. So, parents hit children at home to prepare them for the violent world they live in. However, violence in the home is transmitted to the neighborhood. The real world would become less violent if violence in the home stopped.