Every slap, every strike, every moment spent in tears and pain, memories of violence and feelings of fear, every humiliating display of force is a violation of a child.
When parents physically punish, they communicate that child's bodies and emotions are inherently unworthy of respect or protection. It reduces communication, conditions them to internalize their anger, pain, and fear, leading to self-blame and low self-esteem. Studies show that even yelling at children causes them harm to their mental health. Physical punishment carries significant harm to mental health, as instead of being talked to and understood, children are hurt and they feel scared and traumatized. The stress caused by corporal punishment can negatively impact a child's brain development. It causes long-term emotional distress, increases anxiety and fear in children, leads to lower self-esteem, can result in depression, causes trust issues with parents/caregivers, creates a negative association with authority figures, can lead to feelings of helplessness, encourages repressed anger, which may manifest later.
