No to Corporal Punishment and Yes to Positive Discipline

As a child, I did things the way everyone else did that are beyond my parents’ imagination and yes, to their displeasure. So, I also have my share of “being disciplined’ stories (most are too embarrassing to be mentioned here).

And disciplined I was in different ways (not to mention who did most of the disciplining since its not my story to share). But the one’s I can’t forget are those that made great impact on me. There are two: The first one is thru “sermon” or scolding which includes a lot of nagging [from my mom], “sige ka”, what ifs, could have been and should be’s. The other involve sticks—and a couple of spanking. Between the two, I prefer the former because it is cheaper since I won’t be needing liniment and sebo de macho for possible bruises nor scars after the DA session (as if I was the one who bought said items), hehehe. Though I must admit that it is “nakakakulili” or “parang sirang plaka lang”.

The bigger picture. There are a number of violence against children made known through media (and there may be some others that are opted to be kept as secret). Most stories are heart breaking and infuriating. Defenseless children being hurt physically, emotionally or both.  And hurt by whom? By the people who are supposed to be close, if not the closest to them. And because of what? Sudden outburst, power tripping or the (%&$#?@) just because… Sad, a very sad reality.

Corporal punishment are supposedly given for deterrence and rehabilitation purposes. Effective? Ask the hurt children what they learned after being given corporal punishment, that is if they learned something at all. Will such punishment inhibit them from doing the allegedly wrongful act?

Anyway, this seems to be a long pasakalye (intro) already. So let me get back to what I want to point out.

I just receive an email containing a campaign to pass the Anti-Corporal Punishment and Positive Discipline Bill. I scanned the content and immediately signed up in the petition to show my support.

So what is in the Anti-Corporal Punishment and Positive Discipline Bill?

The said bill upholds children’s rights to physical integrity, human dignity and equal protection under the law. It bans humiliating and degrading punishment to children. As stated in the petition, Anti-Corporal Punishment and Positive Discipline Bill promotes positive and non-violent approach to parenting that:

• teaches children and guides their behavior while respecting their rights to healthy development, protection from violence and participation in learning;
• develops children’s discipline and life-long skills;
• develops children’s positive communication and attention skills; and
• provides them with opportunities to evaluate the choices they make.

The rate of violence against children may not dramatically drop overnight and the people who committed this kind of mistakes may not immediately change. The Anti-Corporal Punishment and Positive Discipline Bill may not even be the cure-all solution to this concern. But the awareness on this inhumanity should bring out in us the need for fairness: to come up with a guideline on control and the extent of acceptable and humane discipline methods.

Please join us in this children’s rights advocacy. Be part of the campaign that strives to gather 12,000 signatures from all over the country. Here’s the link, should you also want to count yourself in. I hope you sign in this petition for the Anti-Corporal Punishment and Positive Discipline Bill before 12 December 2012.

Do your share. Give our children the TLC they deserve.

Again, click and share this link.

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