Parenting: The issue of spanking

February 29, 2012 (WPVI) -- A Canadian child clinical psychologist thinks her research suggests the old adage "spare the rod and spoil the child" is wrong.

Joan Durrant co-published the article "Physical Punishment of Children: Lessons From 20 Years of Research" in the Canadian Medical Association.

Time Magazine later profiled the article. Durrant tells Time that by looking at data over two decades, she has theorized that spanking doesn't work, and could cause harm to children in the long run.

She claims that physical punishment could create lasting resentment towards the parent who is doing the spanking, and cause the child to be more likely to turn physical to solve problems later in life.

I wrote a blog last year about the parenting concept of "time-outs" and how that doesn't seem to work either.

In 2010, we conducted an informal poll on the Action News Facebook page asking whether parents spanked their children. Look back at the surprising results here. Read more Parenting Perspective blogs by visiting the Parenting Channel on 6abc.com.

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matt o'donnell parenting reports, parenting, matt o'donnell

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