Disadvantages of Punishment Based Discipline

Using physical punishment on children does more harm to a child mentally and physically than it does at teaching a child important lessons. It also aids in anxiety, depression and social development. Overall it is an ineffective punishment strategy.

In the United States 81% of parents say that spanking their children is sometimes appropriate and in Canada 35% of children experienced some form of corporal punishment at least once per year.

This website is all about positive parenting and using authoritative techniques when it comes to raising kids. My audience generally is in agreement but there are a few parents who come to me and tell me that this way of parenting doesn’t work and that punishment and hard discipline is the only way for good behavior.

What is Negative Punishment

Negative punishment is what many parents use as a form of discipline to decrease unwanted behavior within children in order to promote good behavior.

Harsh punishment is the use of corporal punishment and often times borders on child abuse from parental authority figures. This type of severe punishment also comes along with undesirable consequence and often times violates the rights of the child.

An example of negative punishment:

Middle school aged Sally forgot her books at school and mom wanted the books at home so they can go over the materials.

When Sally tells her mom about her books being left at school, her mom gives her a spanking, along with yelling and grounds her in her room for 1 week.

Is this kind of punishment fair to Sally? What lesson did Sally learn from being sent to her room, spanked and yelled at?

This is negative punishment, and this is the way I was raised. I am not breaking the cycle of negative punishment with my own children and using more gentle, but effective discipline strategies.

Examples Of Negative Punishment

I bet you’ve heard these standard parenting practices I mentioned above, and maybe even grew up with them.

Things like losing toys, losing rewards, and not being allowed to see friends are all examples of negative punishment, and from experience and from all the scientific sturdies I’ve read, they simply do not work, especially on older children.

Each of those scenarios includes something good being taken away from the child.

Examples of Negative Punishment in practice

1. Yelling at a child when they did something wrong
2. Forcing an unpleasant task on the child when they’ve misbehaved
3. Taking away toys when toys weren’t played with nicely
4. Not allowing playdates because something happened one time on a playdate
5. Not being able to play outside because the child had an attitude

Effectiveness of Negative Punishment

When the following requirements are satisfied, negative punishment can be a highly effective behavior modification technique for a short period of time to get rid of undesired behavior:

Contingency

The term “contingency” refers to the fact that the penalty is conditional on the behavior.

If the punishment is administered anytime the desired behavior emerges, the penalty is contingent on the occurrence of the undesirable behavior.

It is less likely to work if the stimulus is removed whether the act shows or not, or before the action begins.

Contiguity

The immediacy of the behavior and the elimination of the stimulus is referred to as contiguity. The inhibition of behavior will be less effective if punishment is delayed.

The connection is reduced when there is a substantial interval between the behavior and the removal of the stimulus.

Furthermore, additional behaviors may emerge in the interim, and this behavior could be incorrectly identified as the one being repressed.

Consistency

Negative punishment must be applied consistently for it to be effective. Consider the possibility of speeding.

Despite the risk of obtaining a traffic ticket, many continue to speed despite the fact that they do not always receive one.

They are only penalized if they are caught, which is why it is ineffective in this situation.

Effects Of Negative Punishment On Children

Negative punishment is the type of punishment that has the drawback of only working as long as the stimulus is continuously withdrawn.

However, after the punishment has ended, the unwanted behavior is likely to return using this form of punishment. Another disadvantage is that, while it can stop unwanted behavior, it does not offer information about the intended activity.

This is why logical consequences are often the best choice when it comes to discipline.

Some notable drawbacks of negative punishment include many children who experienced parental use of physical punishment as a disciplinary action for their bad behavior showed signs of antisocial behavior and suffered mental health issues throughout their adult life.

Many of these children now practice of corporal punishment at home as grownups with their own children. I am one of those kids, but have become a cycle breaker and will never be using these types of punishment techniques to encourage behavior changes in my own children.

I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s actually really hard to control your own emotions, especially in the heat of the moment, but knowing what kind of damage physical harm does to young children the best approach is to use my authoritative strategies.

Using Positive Punishment with Children

Positive reinforcement is the opposite of negative reinforcement and is very common when using authoritarian parenting practice.

Examples of Positive Reinforcement in Practice

1. A Mom gives her son a hug and praise (reinforcing stimulus) for doing chores without whining (behavior).
2. A child gets an ice lolly for finishing dinner
3. A child receives a new toy (reinforcing stimulus) for being a sweet big sister
4. A mother allows her son to go to the park without supervision for completing all the school work
5. Removing a specific responsibility off of the children’s plate when the child has done an excellent job on another task
6. Allowing natural consequences to occur

As a more specific example of positive punishment, let’s take Sally who forgot her books at school.

When Sally tells her mom that she left her books at school, her Mom gives her a hug and tells her that it’s not a big deal and she can bring her books home the next day. In the mean time maybe there is something they can print off the internet so they can continue working on the material together.

In this scenario, the problem of “books at school” is solved by using an alternative method to get the required information. There is no crisis, Sally is not scared of her Mother and they can go on to have a positive evening. This is how parent – child relationships should be.

Problems with Negative Punishment

A huge problem with negative punishment is that it is soul-crushing to your child.

Taking away something they love because they were a little bit naughty is not the best way to handle the behavior.

The right way of handling naughty behavior is to talk to the child and explain why that behavior is not correct.

But when you take something away from your child for naughty behavior, they often won’t get an explanation, and they won’t understand why their toy was taken away.

If the child does not understand why they are being punished, then the punishment is moot.

Another issue with negative punishment is that it is hard to stay consistent for parents.

If children are allowed to “get away” with a particular behavior many times, but one time they get punished for it, then the child is very likely to repeat that offence.

For example, if your child likes to sneak snacks out of the pantry during the day and you don’t really like that behavior, but you allow it some days because you’re tired and you’ve heard “I’m hungry” enough times that day.

However, if on other days you enforce your rule of no pantry snacks during the day, the child will be perplexed as to why some days snacks are ok, and other days they are not.

This inconsistency is ineffective, thus making the positive punishment moot.

Positive Punishment: Is It For You?

So now you know some examples and effects of negative punishment.

Do you think you’ll be using it in your home? Do you believe that negative punishment works?

References

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