Spanked! Is Your 3-Year-Old Getting It at Preschool?

Madeline Holler — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:25:00 GMT

I'm the first person to giggle/cringe/fume at all the feelings talk and redirection and tolerated annoying behaviors of kids young and old. But that's because I come from a long line of bitter, passive-aggressive control freaks. Lucky for my kids (crossing fingers, crossing fingers), I'm smart enough to know that kid brains are still developing, life is not easy and children's outward actions rarely correlate one-to-one with their inner needs/wants/emotions.

I'm also smart enough to farm my beauties out to the pros when I can. I get a little break. The kids are with other kids. And the pros know what they're doing. Because the pros are gifted in the childcare arts. Because the pros are supervised by other pros. Because the pros re-up their professional credits every summer and go on retreats and role play, role play, role play to collect the necessary "tools" for dealing with conflict and stubborness and the crankies in just the right way that everybody feels good and heard and special about themselves at the end of the day.

Right? Wrong!

According to a new Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union study, gobs of kids in the U.S. are getting spanked by their caregivers and teachers every year. Something like 200,000 of them. Some as young as 3! And African-American girls are getting it way more than any other demographic. I never thought to ask whether my youngest's preschool spanks the kids. Certainly not my older one's elementary school. I mean, who knew it was even an option?

From Reuters:

Twenty-one U.S. states still permit the use of corporal punishment in schools. In Texas and Mississippi children as young as 3 are struck for transgressions as minor as gum chewing, the report says.

The punishment often involves hitting a child on the buttocks with a long wooden board, or paddle.

In 13 states in the U.S. South where corporal punishment is the most prevalent, African-American girls are twice as likely to be hit as their white counterparts, according to the 125-page report.

"African-American students are punished at 1.4 times the rate that would be expected given their numbers in the student population," the groups said in a statement.

Texas is the capital for corporal punishment -- a quarter of the cases in the study hail (in my opinion, unsurprisingly) from this state (also winner in the capital punishment category!). Here's an old NY Times story where Texas educators defend the practice.

If your stomach hasn't turned enough, get this: the study found that students with physical or mental disabilities were subjected to a disproportionate rate of corporal punishment.

The study also documented cases of children being seriously injured, of course a rare occurance. But even if the majority of those getting hit at school do not leave school with bruises or red marks, I would lose my mind if a teacher or principal or daycare worker spanked my kid. Or even threatened to spank them. How about some redirection? Talk about feelings? Tolerance and role playing? I promise I'll stop rolling my eyes!

What would you do if you found out your child got spanked at school? Or are you all for corporal punishment (if the answer is yes, do you live in Texas? It's just a question!)

Should You Intervene When Strangers Hit Their Kids?

Photo: nospank.net

Strollerderby : human rights watch

Spanked! Is Your 3-Year-Old Getting It at Preschool?

Is it ever OK to hit your kids?

Should You Intervene When Strangers Hit Their Kids?