It is important for children to learn the difference between right and wrong at an early age. Punishment is necessary to help them learn this distinction.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
What sort of punishment should parents and teachers be allowed to use to teach good behavior to children?
It is essential for children to learn to differ between right and wrong as early as possible, and punishment is required to make such distinction clear to them. While I agree with the statement to some extent, I think that the negative effects punishment can have on youngsters cannot be overlooked.
Punishment can be useful to teach kids the difference between right and wrong. Children are very impressionable, but can sometimes get annoyingly stubborn and unresponsive to parents’ words alone. For those occasions, a fitting punishment with clear explanation from the adults can really go a long way in teaching children valuable life lessons. Several years ago, when I was still a primary school boy, I was such a pyromaniac that I would often set things alight for fun. On an occasion, I almost burn the neighbor’s house. Fortunately, my parents were soon to discover the threat and snuffed it out. I, of course, received a thorough spanking session with several lessons from my parents about fire safety and what kind of damage I could have caused. Till this day, no similar incident occurred.
On the other hand, when unclear or no explanation is given, children may not fully understand what they did wrong and can even develop hatred towards parents as well as violent tendency. Not knowing the reason the actions deemed incorrect, the young minds can assume that was what the grown ups do to get what they want, thus hate their parents as they feel that the punishment was unfair. Moreover, as they are certain violence is the preferred way to engage a problem, they may grow up to be menace to the society. The link between a criminal and their childhood with abusive parents can be observed as proof.
In conclusion, children should be punished on occasion to learn the rights and wrongs, but the punishment must be complimented by clear explanation for the best result.