Spanking can be harmful?

MSN has a groundbreaking story that spanking is correlated with problems later in life.

I am totally kidding, of course, because obviously beating your child isn't a healthy way to interact with them.

The story claims a link to sexually deviant behavoir, and other risky sexual behavoir. This part is actually kind of funny, that kids that are spanked are more likely to have spanking in their sex. As if that's so deviant. I thought they were going to say like child porn or something was the deviant behavior. I personally think that the risky sexual behavior (they called out "premarital sex without a condom") would be more from the fact that the parent that spanks a lot doesn't have the communication skills to have a real conversation about safe sex with their children.

Then the story reveals that spanked children are more likely to be abusive and violent later in life. Gee, no kidding. Are they actually saying that children model what they're shown at home? Amazing. Chalk up another tally mark for the nurture theory. But it could also be nature, since the parents are violent in the first place, there could be violent tendencies in the genese. Guess that nature vs. nurture is still up in the air.

I couldn't imagine spanking my kids. I get pretty pissed off at them sometimes, but what possible good could spanking do? I guess it might give me an outlet for frustration, but I don't see how anyone could feel that hitting your kids will help them become better people. Especially a two year old. I have a two year old. It is just insane to think that I would hit him and expect him to learn not to do the thing that I was trying to correct. And besides, he already throws enough hard toys at me without me showing him that hitting is a good way to solve a problem.

Adults with children have a responsibility to act like adults. Hitting is perhaps the most baby-like way to try to resolve a conflict. People love to blame TV and video games for violence, and while they may reinforce the acceptance and normalization of violence, it has to start at home. If a person is raised in a nonviolent setting, then violence on TV and in video games will clearly be part of a world that's not real, and less likely to become part of a person's real life.

Don't hit your kids.