10 REASONS CHRISTIAN PARENTS HAVE A HARD TIME GIVING UP SPANKING

SPANKING YOUR CHILDREN IS NOT GOOD FOR THEM.
A huge meta-analysis by Elizabeth Gershoff, done in 2016 of 160,000 children, found that spanking was either a net negative or neutral, but not positive. There are other discipline techniques that work better.
In other words, if you were spanked, but you turned out fine, it was despite spanking, not because of spanking.
I’ve spoken about this at length here at Bare Marriage, most notably in these posts and podcasts:

BUT I’M NOT PRIMARILY A PARENTING BLOG. I’M A MARRIAGE AND SEX BLOG.
And I can’t do everything.
That’s why I’m so thrilled that Marissa Burt, and others, have stepped into the gap recently to write passionately about what the Bible says about spanking, and what research says about it–and how these are not actually at odds.
There are some awesome books coming next year about parenting and spanking (I’ve read early copies to endorse them!). But in the meantime, Marissa’s been burning up the internet with a number of amazing articles and social media posts about spanking.
I know this is a hard topic for many to read about. So many of us were taught that we had to spank and that it was Christian to spank, and it’s all tied up in our identity. I get that. But please read the articles I’ve listed above, and then read what Marissa’s got to say, too, because this is important!