Comments on: Studies Show That Spanking Makes Your Kids Stupid

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:19:58 +0000

Maybe stupid kids need more spanking.

By: JoJo

JoJo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:02:24 +0000

Just a thought for us stupider people… maybe you have to spank a dumb person more. I know my highly intelligent daughter has had less spankings than my less intelligent daughter.

By: PDeverit

PDeverit — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:38:26 +0000

Child buttock-battering vs. DISCIPLINE:

Child buttock-battering for the purpose of gaining compliance is nothing more than an inherited bad habit.

Its a good idea for people to take a look at what they are doing, and learn how to DISCIPLINE instead of hit.

I think the reason why television shows like “Supernanny” and “Dr. Phil” are so popular is because that is precisely what many (not all) people are trying to do.

There are several reasons why child bottom-slapping isn’t a good idea. Here are some good, quick reads recommended by professionals:

Plain Talk About Spanking
by Jordan Riak,

The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children
by Tom Johnson,

NO VITAL ORGANS THERE So They Say
by Lesli Taylor M.D. and Adah Maurer Ph.D.

Most compelling of all reasons to abandon this worst of all bad habits is the fact that buttock-battering can be unintentional sexual abuse for some children. There is an abundance of educational resources, testimony, documentation, etc available on the subject that can easily be found by doing a little research with the recommended reads- visit http://www.nospank.net.

Just a handful of those helping to raise awareness of why child bottom-slapping isn’t a good idea:

American Academy of Pediatrics,
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
Center For Effective Discipline,
PsycHealth Ltd Behavioral Health Professionals,
Churches’ Network For Non-Violence,
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
Parenting In Jesus’ Footsteps,
Global Initiative To End All Corporal Punishment of Children,
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In 26 countries, child corporal punishment is prohibited by law (with more in process). In fact, the US was the only UN member that did not ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:46:25 +0000

I had the same thought as Sarah. These studies don’t offer any insight into whether there is a cause / effect relationship. There may be a high level of correlation between IQ level and spanking, but that doesn’t mean one actually influences the other. For example, a study may find a strong correlation correlation between smoking and IQ. It may be that, in general and in this day and age, those with a lower IQ are more likely to smoke. But, that doesn’t mean the activity of smoking caused a decrease in IQ. Even if they had tried to measure frequency of spanking to IQ, and even controlled for variation in spanking to IQ among siblings within a “spanking household”, that wouldn’t eliminate bias. That is, in a spanking household, the “dumb” sibling (pardon the term), who is always getting in trouble, is probably more likely to get spanked more frequently than the “smarter” child who stays out of trouble or knows better how not to get caught.
Anyway, I think it is important to note that the statement “spanking makes your kid stupid”, isn’t supported by this research. It is simply speculation around an observed relationship. If a study came out showing a correlation between attending church and lower IQ, would we state that church makes you stupid?

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:03:00 +0000

I just think this article is funny. I never thought of anything like spanking you kids makes them stupid.

By: Sarah M.

Sarah M. — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:19:18 +0000

Not arguing with your point at all, Crystal, but one thing I thought might be interesting would be the IQ of the spankers (i.e. the kids’ parents). Perhaps dumb parents (people who spank???…just sayin’) just have dumb kids.