Hitting a child with the aim of educating, punishing and correcting is a practice accepted by many cultures. In Brazil, this strategy is used with greater or lesser intensity by many people. Our great-grandfathers and grandfathers suffered more severe physical punishments, there are reports of beatings with thread, vines, whips, quince sticks, clogs, sticks, etc. Nowadays, the most commonly used punishments are slaps, pinches, flip-flops, pushing, spanking, as well as shouting and swearing. Punches, kicks and burns are recognized as abuse, however, any form of physical aggression is violence and threatens the child's physical and psychological development and must be avoided.
What are we teaching when we hit a child and the consequences of this practice?
Research shows that the use of physical violence in family education and discipline promotes the social learning of violence, as they offer an inadequate model for adults to deal with conflict situations, which is the use of force and violence.
Most of the time, corporal punishment occurs in moments of lack of control, anger, frustration, irritability and impulsiveness on the part of adults and can have serious consequences for children.
The results of research carried out by Assis (2004) indicate that young people who suffer severe physical, psychological and sexual intra-family violence are 3.2 times more likely to transgress social norms; 3.8 times more victims of violence in the community and 3 times more targets of violence at school than young people whose family environment is more supportive and healthy.
Two researchers in Canada – psychologist Joan Durrant of the University of Manitoba and social worker Ron Ensom of Eastern Ontario Children's Hospital – analyzed 20 years of research, including a meta-analysis of more than 36,000 participants. The conclusion: “No studies have shown that physical punishment has a positive effect, and most studies have found negative effects” (2010).
A study carried out in 11 Brazilian capitals, carried out by the Center for Violence Studies (NEV/USP), shows strong evidence that being a victim of corporal punishment as a child encourages the use of this type of punishment as adults.
Why face the problem?
In 1996, the WHO (World Health Organization) recognized violence as a public health problem that affects practically the entire world population, with serious consequences and recommended that States Parties implement actions to prevent and combat this problem. Among the different manifestations of violence that affect children and adolescents, psychological, physical and sexual violence, neglect and abandonment stand out.
In the same year, the UN Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children consolidates information on the forms of violence and the different places where it occurs. The children themselves point out that the corporal punishment and humiliating treatment they suffer in their care and protection environments, that is, homes, schools, care institutions, etc. they are a crucial problem in their lives and need to be eliminated.
Corporal punishment began to be recognized as a problem to be faced and both the UN and the OAS presented recommendations to States Parties regarding the need for legal protection and the carrying out of preventive actions.
What actions are being developed to prevent corporal punishment in Brazil?Various civil society organizations, universities, etc. develop projects, research and articulations that contribute to the end of the practice of corporal punishment in our country, such as Cendhec, Claves/Fiocruz, Crami, Laprev, PIM – Programa Primeira Infância Melhor, Rede Nacional Primeira Childhood, etc.
Rede Não Bata Eduque is a national movement that seeks to combat corporal punishment against children and adolescents and develops awareness campaigns, distributes communication material to parents and guardians, guardianship counselors, early childhood education professionals, civil society organizations, System operators of Guarantee of Rights, etc., seeks to disseminate positive educational practices, participates in debates and influences politically so that the State and Brazilian society recognize the problem and can develop actions that contribute to the necessary cultural change and support families in building an education without violence.
In an attempt to combat corporal punishment, the Brazilian government forwarded bill No. 7672/2010 to the National Congress. The proposal became known as the “Spanking Law” and contributed to the issue entering the national debate, raising opposing and favorable opinions.
It is worth highlighting that the Brazilian government and congress are fulfilling their responsibility by bringing this discussion to light and proposing actions that can contribute to the necessary cultural change materialized through a bill – so that the right to physical integrity and children's psychology and teenagers can be guaranteed. A widely used opposing argument is that the project is state interference in the private lives of families, as parents have the right to educate their children in any way they wish.
As a counterpoint to this argument, we remember that when the Maria da Penha Law was presented, this type of discussion also came to the fore. Who doesn't remember the saying “in a fight between husband and wife, no one picks the spoon!”, well, today Law No. 11,340/2006 is recognized by Brazilian society as an advance in combating domestic and family violence against women. The law has been an important instrument in protecting the physical and psychological integrity of women.
Children and adolescents also have the right not to suffer any type of violence in their educational and care process, including intra-family violence. PL 7672/2010 proposes the recognition of this right, nothing more.
A religious argument has also been used to criticize the legal adequacy proposal. Some proverbs from the Old Testament (10:13; 23:13,14; 26:3; 29:15) present the “rod” as an instrument of physical punishment, however, religious leaders in favor of peace are debating this issue and suggest that the interpretation of the “use of the rod” is brought to the current context and that people read the Bible with the eyes of Jesus Christ, who breaks with several traditions of the old testament and proposes love, forgiveness, dialogue and demonstrates attentiveness special for children.
After an intense agenda of debates, the PL was unanimously approved by a Special Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and will be forwarded to the Senate and, if approved, will be subject to presidential sanction.
As a social movement, we are in favor of the approval of Law 7672/2010, as we consider it a historic milestone in combating corporal punishment against children and adolescents, for presenting a preventive proposal and supporting families, promoting awareness campaigns and disseminating practices positive education and aims to help build a less violent society.
A way forwardIn Brazil, we have already overcome the use of physical punishment instruments in the school environment, such as: paddles, kneeling on corn, standing with your back to the wall for hours, etc.
To overcome the use of corporal punishment in care and protection environments and favor non-violent practices in resolving conflicts, it is necessary to recognize children and adolescents as subjects of rights and not as beings subordinate to adults who believe they have the “right” or even the “ duty” to hit them.
It is imperative to promote positive education, which does not use any form of physical and psychological violence and favors the physical, emotional and social development of children and adolescents in a healthy and participatory way. To achieve this, a combination of information campaigns, legislation, provision of support services to families and continued qualification of protection network professionals are necessary.
Preventing physical and psychological violence against children is a duty for all of us and together we will be able to consolidate the much-needed cultural change where dialogue, affection and respect are the basis of the educational and care process for children and adolescents.
Source:
IACHR/OAS – Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. Report on Corporal Punishment and the Human Rights of Children and Adolescents. Report on children's rights. 2009.Available at: <http://www.cidh.oas.org/pdf%20files/CASTIGO%20CORPORAL%20PORTUGUES.pdf>.
UN. United Nations Organization. United Nations World Study on Violence against Children. 2006. Available at: <http://www.unviolencestudy.org/>.
DURRANT, JE Corporal punishment: preponderance, predictors and implications for child behavior and development. In: HART, SN (Org). The path to constructive child discipline: eliminating corporal punishment. São Paulo: Cortez, 2008.
WILLIAMS, LCA; MALDONATO, DPA; ARAUJO, EAC (Org.). Positive education for your children: partnership project. São Paulo: Federal University of São Carlos/Department of Psychology, 2008.
Website: www.naobataeduque.org.br
Marcia Oliveira – Coordinator of the Don’t Beat, Educate Permanent Campaign. She has worked for 20 years in the area of defending the rights of children and adolescents with a specialization from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru in the Right to No Physical Punishment and New Childhood Paradigms.
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