Right and wrong way to punish

Working in the field of child protection for 30 years, I can attest that corporal punishment harms children.

Corporal punishment includes hitting children with a hand — or an object — such as a broomstick or hanger, kicking or shaking kids, forcing them to maintain uncomfortable positions and a wide range of other degrading and pain-inducing actions.

Resorting to corporal punishment means that the adult uses dominance, power and violence to try to control the child.

And far from teaching the child how to behave, how to right the wrong that upset the parent in the first place, it leaves the child angry, upset and in pain. Nothing is learned, and so

much is lost. Corporal punishment hurts, harms and often kills children.

Discipline is what the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children recommends that parents or caretakers use, but it takes more work on their part.

So, unfortunately, some opt for a “good beating” instead — like NFL star Adrian Peterson did when hitting his 4-year-old son with a switch.

Adults are much more powerful than children and can be very angry.

They can easily underestimate the force of the blows that they are inflicting.

As we see in cases in the news, the hitting can very easily escalate so that the child is badly harmed, or, in the worstcase scenario, killed.

The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children believes corporal punishment should be banned here as many other states have done. Spare the rod, save the child. Pulido is the executive director of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and president of the state chapter of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.