“There was never a time when a major social problem was solved by hitting a child. And there will never be a time like this … For centuries, adults have hurt children and lied about it, and other adults have heard those lies and then just walked away … we should start putting the blame where it belongs. ” -VS. Everett Koop, MD, Sc.D
Desmond M. Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus, Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, 2006.
“No violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable.” This is the key message of the Report of the Independent Expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, appointed by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Study of the UN Secretary General, 2003. http://www.nospank.net/globalreport.pdf
“The claim that mild punishments (slaps or slaps) have no detrimental effect is still widespread because we received this message very early from our parents who had taken it over from their parents. Unfortunately, the main damage it causes is precisely the wide dissemination of this conviction. The result is that each successive generation is subjected to the tragic effects of the so-called “physical correction”. … Physical cruelty and emotional humiliation not only leave their mark on children, they also inflict a disastrous mark on the future of our society. Therefore, information on the effects of the “well-intentioned slap” should be an integral part of courses for pregnant women and parenting counseling. “-Alice Miller,” Every Smack is a Humiliation, “1998. http: //www.nospank.net/miller3.htm
Miller, Alice. The drama of the gifted child: the search for the true self. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1981.
Miller, Alice. For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Parenting and the Roots of Violence. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Girous, 1983; The Noonday Press, 1990.
Miller, Alice. You will not be aware: the betrayal of the child by society. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1984.
Miller, Alice. Knowledge banished. New York: Doubleday, 1990.
Miller, Alice. The key intact. New York: Doubleday, 1990
Miller, Alice. Tearing down the wall of silence. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1991.
“A society in which children are hit little or not at all is likely to result in fewer alienated, depressed, or suicidal people, and fewer violent marriages. The potential benefits to society as a whole are equally great. These include higher crime rates. casualties, especially for violent crimes; increased economic productivity; and less money spent controlling or treating crime and mental illness … A society that raises children through caring, non-violent and humane methods is likely to be less violent, and richer “.
-Murray Straus, co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. From “A society without corporal punishment.” http://www.nospank.net/straus5.htm
“The adult flagellant fantasy, in short, always derives from the childish one. As with all sexual perversions, we are dealing with a variety of arrested development … that puberty and subsequent experience have not been able to dislodge … I need to examine your roots in childhood … “-Ian Gibson, The English Vice, 1979
“Frequent spanking can also have a negative impact on sexual development. Due to the proximity of the sexual organs, a boy may become sexually aroused when spanked. Or he may enjoy the reconciliation that follows punishment so much that he will seek suffering as a necessary prelude to love. There are many adult couples who seem to need a good fight before a good night. ” -Dr. Haim G. Ginott, child psychologist, Between Parents and Children, 1966.
“Being hit arouses sexually in children because it is an intense arousal of the erogenous zones of the skin of the buttocks and of the muscles under the skin …” -Otto Fenickel, MD The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis, 1945.
“The most positive social changes around the world have come after massive improvements in the way children are treated.” -Robin Grille, author of Parenting for a Peaceful World, 2005.
“Children should never receive less protection than adults … [we must] end the adult justification of violence against children, either accepted as ‘tradition’ or disguised as ‘discipline’. “-Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, member of the United Nations Subcommission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Geneva, 2006.
“I have never accepted the principle of ‘forgive the rod and spoil the child” … I am convinced that violent parents beget violent children … Children do not need to be beaten. They need love and encouragement. They need parents whom they can look at with respect rather than fear. Above all, they need the example. “-Gordon B. Hinckley, President, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, October 1994 general conference.
“Any form of corporal punishment or ‘spanking’ is a violent attack on the integrity of another human being. The effect remains with the victim forever and becomes a relentless part of their personality – a massive frustration that results in hostility that he will seek expression in later life in violent acts towards others. The sooner we understand that love and kindness are the only types of behavior required towards children, the better. The child, especially, learns to become the kind of human being you’ve experienced. All caregivers need to fully understand it. ” -Ashley Montagu, anthropologist, 1989. Excerpt from personal communication. http://www.nospank.net/montagu.htm
“Corporal punishment of children actually interferes with the learning process and with their optimal development as socially responsible adults. We believe that it is important for public health workers, teachers, and others concerned about the physical and emotional health of children. children and young people support the adoption of alternative methods for the achievement of self-control and responsible behavior in children and adolescents “. -Dr. Daniel F. Whiteside, Deputy Surgeon General, Department of Health and Human Services, President Ronald Reagan Administration, 1990.
“When our Founding Fathers wrote in the basic law protecting our land against cruel and unusual punishment for all, including dissenters and criminals, they were not convinced by evidence, scientific or otherwise, that such punishments do not work. They added. the amendment because of ethical considerations. They appreciated the climate of freedom more than the security of ruling a population with a single thought. Over the years, these proud hopes have been slowly approaching reality. Except for the children. Which brings us back to our original question: How is it possible to circumvent standard ethics for certain groups of people? “-Adah Maurer,” Psychodynamics of the Punisher, “Watman Educational Services, 1974. See http: // www. nospank.net/maurer2.htm
“Punitive measures, whether administered by the police, teachers, spouses or parents, have well-known standard effects: 1) escape – education has its own name for that: truancy, 2) counterattack – vandalism in schools and attacks on teachers, 3) apathy – a sullen abstinence and doing nothing. The more violent the punishment, the more severe the by-products. ” -BF Skinner, Ph.D., author, professor of psychology, Harvard. Excerpt from personal communication, 1983.
“Corporal punishment trains children to accept and tolerate aggression. It always figures prominently at the roots of adolescent and adult aggression, especially in manifestations that take an antisocial form such as delinquency and criminality.”
-Philip Greven, professor of history, Rutgers University. Excerpt from PART IV CONSEQUENCES, subtitle: “Aggression and delinquency”, in Saving the child: the religious roots of punishment and the psychological impact of physical abuse, 1990 p.193) http://nospank.net/greven.htm
“I have always been an advocate for the total abolition of corporal punishment and I believe that the connection to pornography that is so oriented is rooted in our tradition of beating children.” -Gordon Moyes, DD, Pastor, Uniting Church, Wesley Central Mission Superintendent, Sydney, Australia. Excerpt from personal communication, 1980.
“The much touted ‘biblical argument’ in support of corporal punishment is based on text proof of some isolated passages of Proverbs. Using the same method of selective reading of the scriptures, the Bible could also be cited as an authority for the practice of slavery, adultery, polygamy, incest, repression of women, execution of pig eaters and infanticide. The brutal and vindictive practice of corporal punishment cannot be reconciled with major New Testament themes that teach love and forgiveness and respect for the holiness and dignity of children – and who overwhelmingly reject violence and retribution as a means of solving human problems. Would Jesus ever hit a child? -The Rev. Thomas E. Sagendorf, United Methodist Clergy Retired), Hamilton, Ind. 2006.
“Researchers have also found that children who are spanked show higher rates of aggression and delinquency in childhood than those who did not receive spanking. As adults, they are more prone to depression, feelings of alienation, use of violence toward a spouse and a financial reduction and professional achievement. None of this is what we want for our children. ” Alvin Poussaint, MD, professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. From “Spanking Strikes Out”, 1999. http://nospank.net/psnt.htm
“Inflicting pain or discomfort, no matter how minor, is not a desirable method of communicating with children.” -American Medical Association, House of Delegates, 1985.
“As long as the child is not educated by love, but by fear, humanity will live not by justice, but by force. As long as the child is governed by the threat of the educator and by the rod of the father, until? humanity dominated by the police club, by the fear of jail and by the panic of the invasion of armies and navies? “. -Boris Sidis, from “A lecture on the abuse of the fear instinct in early education” in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1919. http://nospank.net/sidis.htm
“Slavish discipline produces a slavish temperament … Hitting them, and all kinds of slavish and corporal punishment, is not the proper discipline to be used in the education of those of us who would like wise, good and naive men.” -John Locke, 1632-1704, “Some Thoughts on Education”, 1692.
“Do not berate the student hastily, for that will dull his wits and discourage his diligence, but [ad]Look at it gently, which will make you willing to make amends and happy to move on with love and hope to learn … Let the teacher say, “You do well here.” Because I assure you that there is no such sharpening stone to sharpen good wit and foster a love of learning as its praise … In my opinion, love is more apt than fear, sweetness better than beating, to educate correctly to a child in learning. “-Roger Ascham, Guardian to Queen Elizabeth I, from The Scholemaster [Schoolmaster], published in 1570.
“Children should be led to honorable practices through encouragement and reasoning, and certainly not through beatings and ill-treatment.” -Plutarch, circa AD 46-120, “The Education of Children”, vol. I, Moralia, Ancient Greece.
“It is disgusting and servile treatment … When children are beaten, pain or fear often results in not being pleasant to talk and can subsequently be a source of shame, shame that unnerves and depresses the mind and it leads the child to avoid daylight and abhor light … I will not spend any more time on this matter. We already know enough about it. ” -Quintilian, circa 40-118 AD, Institutes of Oratory, Ancient Rome
