Hitting kids should be banned

Hitting kids

I believe that what most of our parents did was child abuse not discipline

You will say but “that is why you are strong.” No, that is actually why you are temperamental, aggressive, have negative mental health, and, impaired cognitive/ emotional development.

I thought our generation would be wiser and better. I thought hitting children like animals was more a “poor, uneducated, unenlightened people’s thing” but I’m more than shocked that well to do CEOs, Executives, Bankers, etc. are the perpetrators of this wicked act.

Someone once said in his post that if it’s not okay to hit women, why is it okay to hit children? That got me thinking hard. I’m beginning to agree with him because we have too many broken adults out there who don’t know the difference between discipline and punishment.

Children are human just like you and I, so why are their rights constantly being trampled upon like they don’t matter? Anyway I blame this playground we call “Nigeria” where someone will utter these unforgivable words “you are my child, I will do what I want with you and nothing will happen” and no one will see anything wrong with the person.

Many people shouldn’t be parents. That a child is not yours is no reason to raise your hand against them and treat them like they’re less than human. If you can’t deal anymore, send them back to where they came from.

I got an inbox story once of a man whose own baby mama was the one maltreating their child. What in God’s name is wrong with some of you? Oya give up custody na, she no gree. With what I went through as a child in the hands of an angry father, I swore I will never hit a child when I’m angry.

Hitting kids is archaic and retrogressive, there are 101 ways to discipline children effectively but we aren’t a Nation of readers or thinkers so we hit like animals, especially you women who like to shout “oppression” but are the biggest perpetrators of this oppression!!!

If this was a reasonable Country, most kids will be taken away from parents and most school teachers will be in jail.

I once attended a school where flogging was banned and I remember I never did better in primary school than I did there.

Hitting and screaming at children creates fear, timidity and all sort of mental issues in them as they grow older. If you’re in a bad mood, take a break, relax and think of an effective way to punish the erring child. Hitting them is just a quick fix that will most likely make them more rebellious than disciplined.

I teach in a toddler class with over 100 of them most times and I don’t permit spanking of any sort. Yes, they can get under your hair but I’ve also realised that treating them like individuals is more effective than treating them like they can’t think or hear properly.

If Nigerians can train their kids to be responsible abroad without hitting them, why can’t we do so here? If animals can be trained to be obedient without hitting them, then why are we lazy when it comes to learning more about effective parenting/discipline? In fact I know parents take who have never hit their kids yet the children are well behaved!

We need an active child protection service, a working foster home system and the child act enshrined in every single state of the Federation!

In fact, hitting kids should be made illegal in this Country. Any spanking that leads to a scars or physical imprint on that child should have the perpetrators jailed.