There is a hidden camera TV show that roams the middle east capturing everyday people's reactions to staged scenarios. The show is called Al Sadma (the shock). A recent airing featured a father apparently maltreating his young son in public. This emotionally provocative episode reignited the debate about physical punishment and whether smacking a child is ever OK. The Al Sadma viewers, like audiences in general, were split, with voices on both sides of the physical punishment divide.
Physical punishment advocates worldwide tend to say things like: "my parents hit me; it never did me any harm." Perhaps the harm is the belief that it's OK to hit children. However, most of those who think hitting is OK tend to qualify their stance, advocating a light-handed approach with only minimal force. But how hard is too hard, and do we need to re-calibrate based on the child's age and body mass? Where exactly do we draw the line?
There is no universally agreed consensus about the exact point physical punishment becomes physical abuse. Within some legal frameworks, if the discipline leaves welts, bruises or contusions, it is considered abuse. Even with such a definition, we still need to ask what are the effects of beatings that do not leave marks on a child's developing mind.
A study published last year in The Journal of Pediatrics found that physical punishment (spanking/smacking) had similar associations to childhood emotional problems as other well-established risk factors, including physical abuse and neglect, parental incarceration and exposure to intimate partner violence.
The study in question involved looking at data for 2380 families over four years. The analysis was part of a larger project known as the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study led by Princeton and Columbia Universities in the US. The study's authors concluded that the physical punishment of young children is likely to harm physical and mental health.
Of course, when physical punishment crosses the blurred line into physical abuse, it can have a devastating impact on health. Childhood physical abuse, however, is rarely an isolated event. It often occurs alongside other adversities such as emotional abuse, neglect, parental substance misuse and more. Therefore, any study wanting to understand the impact of physical abuse on mental health also needs to consider these other adversities.
Such a study was published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect in 2007. This study involved over 2000 adults. Even after considering all other early-life adversities, demographics and the family environment, childhood physical abuse remained a strong predictor of ill-health across various physical and mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, heart and liver disease and asthma.
Comment from The National
The research suggests that childhood physical punishment and physical abuse are likely to negatively impact later-life health. So why do we continue to hit children? The answer often lies in our inability to adequately manage our emotions as parents.
One of the best predictors of whether physical punishment is administered or not is parental mood. The decision to smack or not smack can be totally independent of the child's actual behaviours. Parents who shrug off a behavioural misdemeanour on a happy day will come down hard on the same behaviours when they are in a bad mood. Parents learning to better manage their emotions is far kinder and more effective than subjecting children to inconsistent, mood-dependent physical punishment.
Similarly, children are often a safe target for adults to redirect and vent their emotions upon: "You're just like your father." Psychologists call this trick-of-mind displacement. Sometimes, without even knowing it, we direct our anger towards a convenient rather than a deserving target; we let our hostility rain down on the vulnerable rather than the powerful.
Parenting can be incredibly rewarding. Unfortunately, it can also be super stressful, an unending emotional roller coaster. Hitting or generally maltreating a child is often (not always) an excellent example of maladaptive emotional reactivity – letting our emotions get the better of us. Managing stress and emotional reactivity is a vital part of parenting. Mindfulness and other stress management courses have become common in the workplace.
We need to do more to offer such courses to the parents of young children and especially to would-be and soon-to-be parents. Such a sustained initiative will, eventually, confine questions about whether it's OK to hit children to the dustbin of history where they belong.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Where to submit a sample
Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
The biog
Born: High Wycombe, England
Favourite vehicle: One with solid axels
Favourite camping spot: Anywhere I can get to.
Favourite road trip: My first trip to Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan. The desert they have over there is different and the language made it a bit more challenging.
Favourite spot in the UAE: Al Dhafra. It’s unique, natural, inaccessible, unspoilt.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)
Cagliari v AC Milan (6pm)
Lazio v Napoli (9pm)
Inter Milan v Atalanta (11.45pm)
Sunday
Udinese v Sassuolo (3.30pm)
Sampdoria v Brescia (6pm)
Fiorentina v SPAL (6pm)
Torino v Bologna (6pm)
Verona v Genoa (9pm)
Roma V Juventus (11.45pm)
Parma v Lecce (11.45pm)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Off-roading in the UAE: How to checklist
Fight card
1. Bantamweight: Victor Nunes (BRA) v Siyovush Gulmamadov (TJK)
2. Featherweight: Hussein Salim (IRQ) v Shakhriyor Juraev (UZB)
3. Catchweight 80kg: Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Khamza Yamadaev (RUS)
4. Lightweight: Ho Taek-oh (KOR) v Ronald Girones (CUB)
5. Lightweight: Arthur Zaynukov (RUS) v Damien Lapilus (FRA)
6. Bantamweight: Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) v Furkatbek Yokubov (RUS)
7. Featherweight: Movlid Khaybulaev (RUS) v Zaka Fatullazade (AZE)
8. Flyweight: Shannon Ross (TUR) v Donovon Freelow (USA)
9. Lightweight: Mohammad Yahya (UAE) v Dan Collins (GBR)
10. Catchweight 73kg: Islam Mamedov (RUS) v Martun Mezhulmyan (ARM)
11. Bantamweight World title: Jaures Dea (CAM) v Xavier Alaoui (MAR)
12. Flyweight World title: Manon Fiorot (FRA) v Gabriela Campo (ARG)
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Racecard
6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 1 (PA) $55,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
6.35pm: Oud Metha Stakes Rated Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m
7.10pm: Jumeirah Classic Listed (TB) $150,000 (Turf) 1,600m
7.45pm: Firebreak Stakes Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 Group 2 (TB) $350,000 (D) 1,900m
8.55pm: Al Bastakiya Trial Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,900m
9.30pm: Balanchine Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
