Physical Discipline vs. Physical Abuse

Parents can and should discipline their children. It is a parent's job to teach their children about expectations, rules, morals, and values. Children need to be given consistent discipline to be taught right from wrong, to be kept safe, and to learn what they can and cannot do. Positive discipline helps children to learn and change their behavior.  Child abuse can result when discipline or attempts to control a child become excessive and injures the child.

Discipline is a parental response to specific misbehavior.  A child can expect that if he fails to meet expectations that he will be corrected. Child abuse is often unpredictable. Children who are abused often don't know what will set their parent off.  The rules and consequences are not clear, and children do not know what will result in a physical assault.

Although Ohio law permits corporal punishment, excessive physical discipline is abuse.  Physical discipline probably is excessive if:

• It results in physical injury, including bruises
• The injuries are in particularly sensitive locations (eyes, genitals)
• It is inconsistent, arbitrary punishment designed to instill fear rather than to educate
• The caretaker loses control during discipline
• It is inappropriate to the age of the child
• It is the result of unreasonable expectations or demands on the child by the caretaker

Tips For Teaching Children Discipline

• Remember that the purpose of discipline is to teach your child socially acceptable ways of expressing natural desires and drives.
• Successful discipline is geared to the child's developmental stage.  Do not expect a child of any age to perform something if he or she is not ready to do so.
• Children need positive reinforcement.  Reward your child for doing right with smiles, hugs, attention, praise, and thanks.  Rewards do not need to be toys or candy.
• Never hit or shake a child.  Hitting is not a useful discipline tool for your child.  Hitting and other physical punishments are not effective because they teach a child that it is okay to hit people, make children much too angry to be sorry for what they've done, and can hurt a child physically.
• Discipline is best taught by example.  The lessons you teach your child come from what your child sees you do, not what you say.
• If what you are doing is not working, change it!  Your best efforts, even those that worked in the past, may break down. Try to keep sight of your basic principles and always cherish your relationship with your child.
• The important thing is not whether your child behaves in the next few minutes, days, or weeks.  The really important thing is the well-being of your child in five, ten, or twenty years.