Spanking Children Not the Answer to Behavioral Problems

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As the debate on whether or not to discipline a child with a spanking continues, a New Mexico State University professor offers some advice. Anna María Pérez-Wright reports.

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Generations of parents followed the old saying of spare the rod and spoil the child. But Marriage and Family Therapy Professor Robert Del Campo with New Mexico State University's College of Agriculture and Home Economics says spanking is harmful to the parent-child relationship.

"Because what happens is kids, certainly in the short term, stop doing whatever it is you want them to stop doing by hitting them, but the reason they do it is because they're afraid of you, not because they've learned it's wrong, necessarily, to do what they're doing. Especially when you're talking about young children."

Del Campo says parents should find alternatives to hitting or spanking when punishing children.

"Maybe talk to some people to get some ideas. Read some books and come up with some other alternatives, and in the long run, it's going to be a lot better for your relationship with your child."

Del Campo says parenting classes offered through Extension and other organizations across the state teach alternative punishment methods that don't harm the parent-child relationship. For N-M-S-U's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, I'm Anna María Pérez-Wright.