Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1914-06-11
STOP WHIPPING CHILDREN
(An open letter to parentsl


 that most parents believe they have 8 right to strike children, especially the small children. When punishments are known to be extremely severe neighbOrs and officers sometimes in terfere in behalf of the victims. For enc such case which becomes public there are hundreds where the parent is sole judge and witness, and there is no court of appeal
 There is story and text in the paragraph which has been printed as a newspaper joke. It is not a joke It is as follows:
 The parent was sure he had inflicted the right punishment upon the child. To make the lesson complete he asked
 Do you know why I whipped your Yes" answered the child, because you are bigger than I am." Consider this difference in size be tween a parent and young child. l. giant ten or twelve feet tall stood over a man CT woman and dealt ou, blows for infractions of giant-made rules, the parent might realize what he now does to children. He prabably does not know either the pain, nor phy- sical injury, the nervous shock, the mental effects, nor the effects upon the other children in the family. The ef- feet upon the mother or father is an other subject.
 The pain is greater than a grown person realizes. The injury to the heart. is sometimes permanent. Speak ing about spanking, do you know thai spanking and whipping stimulate the organs Of sex. The nervous effects are such that the same child frequently offendS again within an hour. Feeling of bitterness, hatred, and even revenge Tankle in the heart of the child. The fear engendered in the mind of the vic tim and of the other children is wholly bad. Parental control that is wise anC good cultlvates a child's self-respect as well as respect of parents. Whip ping is destructive of self-respect. IL some ways, this is its worst result.
 Children who have been asked how Ehey felt after being spanked or whip, ped, have said that it made them want to hit somebody, anybody. Since they didn't dare hit their mothers or fath- CTS, they had a strong impulse to hit other children, or to kick the dog r the cat. Che boy said it made him feel ugly all day.
 The faults of little children are largely the results of ignorance, acci- dent, and the forgetfulness of imma tuIe minds, on the one side, CT the 1ar-off adult point of view, on the other. Grown persons would justly re sent corporal punishment visited upon them for ignorance, accident or an un- known point of view. Children try harder to fit themselves into q grown peoples world than parents try to make a world for children.
 How can any parent have the op:n. ion that children may be taught nof to hit or strike others, by being then. selves hit? How can any parent whi1 a child fer fault which is plainly ont ot inheritance? How can parent c teacher who resorts to physical v:o fence, hold up the common rule of oui So-called civilized society, Never hit anybody smaller or weaker than vor are, nor any one who is defenseless.
 Spanking and whipping children di- mlnishes at just the age when childrer are big enough to hit back, and enl when they can really defend them selves. Their later offenses are ire | quntly more disoDedient, more deliber l ate. more serious, and more aggra 1 vating, and large children are moro 1 responsible as individuals, but the par | ents control themselves.
 Reasonable deprivations or punis' nentS take time and brains and self | 3cntrol They imply an interruption in adult occupations and interests, and temporary devotion to the education of | the child. The parent who is preoccu- pied, or ignorant, or selfish, or tired 1 s not in a condition to be a judge over I dependent, and therefore in no con- iition to inflict any punishment what ever.
 To save time, or to save thinking )r to cut the interruption to the fewes; possible minutes cowardly blows are struck
 Skipping, spanking, or whipping chil- lren cannot be defended. They have )een universal. They are now com non. They are seldom discussed. Pos 'ibly shame prevents parents from alking about this important subject t is time the practice was discussed openly.
 Children cannot defend themselves