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If smacking works, why are the prisons so full? : building on voices of respect to reduce physical punishment against young children


Document type: article
Download file(s): 124188 (219 KB)
Abstract: Despite legislation in support of children’s rights, Brazil has until recently had few public education campaigns or community-based initiatives aiming to prevent or reduce physical punishment and other forms of physical violence against children. Instead, efforts have mostly focused on responding to serious cases of abuse or neglect and reporting cases of violence. While such interventions are vital, it is equally important to identify ways that physical punishment, and the trauma associated with it, can be prevented. The concept of prevention strikes at the heart of the ‘adult–child interaction’, i.e. whether children are viewed as subjects in their own right or as objects or inferior beings who must be moulded by their parents. Indeed, from a developmental perspective, when parents give their children respect and ‘personhood’ from the earliest moments of their lives, children are more likely to grow up with greater confidence and ability to interact with the world around them.
Authors: Barker, G. , Araujo, T.
Country: Brazil
Category: Practice
End Page: 15
Serial number: 106
ISSN: 1387-9553
Journal: Early Childhood Matters
Keywords: children , violence , human rights
Language: eng
Organization: Bernard van Leer Foundation
Year: 2006
Region: South America
Right: © 2006 Bernard van Leer Foundation
Subject: Culture, Society and Religion
Start Page: 10
Title: If smacking works, why are the prisons so full? : building on voices of respect to reduce physical punishment against young children