Child Abuse and Nqlect, Vol. 6. pp. 141-145, 1982 Printed in the U.S.A. All rights rewrved.

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THE USE OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN CHILD REARING IN THE WEST INDIES

ELAINE ARNOLD, M. PHIL.

Extra-Mural Studies Unit, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago

Abstract-The West Indian child is usually loved by its parents or caretakers, but is frequently subjected to corporal punishment unsuitable to the age and stage of its development and excessive in relation to the alleged offence. The debate on whether the persistent use of what is considered excessive punishment as the means of instilling obedience in children, centres around the parents’ African heritage or learned behaviour from the institution of slavery. Socially and economically disadvantaged parents under stress seem to displace their frustrations and anxieties on the children through corporal punishment which often assumes ritualised characteristics. The community in general and the parents in particular need help through appropriate education, to change their attitudes of accepting excessive corporal punishment as the means of imposing discipline upon children.

R&urn&-L’enfant Caribbean est en general I’objet d’une tends affection de la part de ses parents ou des personnes qui en ont la garde; malgr6 cela, il est assez souvent soumis a des chatiments corporels inappropries pour son age et pour son stade de developpement et de toute fagon excessifs quand on les compare a la faute commise. Le debat autour de ce qui est consider6 comme une punition excessive, destinte a inspirer I’obeissance chez les enfants, toume autour de I’htritage culture1 africain des parents et d’un comportement derive de I’institution de I’esclavage. Les parents socialement ou tconomiquement defavorises, lorsqu’ils sont exddts, semblent reporter leurs frustrations et leurs angoisses sur leurs enfants par le moyen du chatiment corporel qui prend souvent I’aspect d’un rituel. L-e public en general et les parents en particulier, auraient besoin d’aide dam ce domaine; cette aide devrait prendre la forme d’un appoint educatif ou de r&ducation, atin que l’attitude commune a I’Cgard du chatiment corporel change.

INTRODUCTION

OBSERVERS OF CHILD REARING by mothers or their substitutes in low-income families of the West Indian population, are often struck by the mixture of great love and affection shown to young children, and the frequency with which corporal punishment is administered as they grow older and begin to assert their independence [ I].

At times the “beating” as it is commonly called can be severe and bears no relevance to the age of the child nor the stage of its development. For example, a 4-year-old child attending Nursery School and therefore being encouraged to be self sufficient, was “beaten” by her mother for several consecutive mornings, because she spilt the tea in attempting to pour it from the teapot instead of waiting for mother to do so. To an onlooker, an instance such as this could be interpreted as cruelty: but since the mother’s intention was to benefit her child by instilling obedience, good manners and respect, she was unaware of doing harm.

ORIGINS OF THE PRACTICE

There has been considerable debate about the origins of the practice of what is considered to be the excessive use of corporal punishment. Some of the questions raised are similar to those

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This paper was presented at: The Third International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April, 1981.

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posed about the organization of the West Indian family. Is the practice a survival of the Afro- Caribbean’s African heritage? or is it based in the institution of slavery and the pressures of the plantation society [2]. Whilst on the one hand the pattern follows closely that of child rearing in West Africa [3], the influence of the example of the slave masters and mistresses and all those in authority who elicited obedience through the use of corporal punishment, cannot be ignored entirely [4].

DISPLACEMENT THEORY

One theory which bears exploration belongs to Orlando Patterson [5]. He holds that “the West Indian slave mother’s cruelty to her children was partly the displacement of aggression and hatred for the driver and the overseer and partly her own ignorant way of inculcating respect and loyalty in her children.”

Where the family organisation follows the nuclear pattern of other countries in the Western industrialised world, the mother is still more frequently the agent of discipline, but the role of disciplinarian is often ascribed to the father in respect of the older male children when the latter begin to strive for autonomy.

The children live under the threat of “wait until your father comes home”, and the expectation is that he will administer corporal punishment. The father is therefore driven into the position where he must assert his authority lest he loses face and the respect of the children. Very often, angry at having been excluded during the early years of the child’s life and its training, or guilty at having made himself marginal to the family, he displaces his feelings of anger or guilt on the child, and the “beating” may be more severe than is warranted by the offence. If the father refuses to punish the child, the punishment by the mother may be more severe with the displacement of her anger and frustration at the father’s noninvolvement.

RITUALISED CHARACTER OF PUNISHMENT

Several decades after the abolition of slavery, whilst the low-income Afro-West Indian mothers may not be driven, or supervised to the extent that they were during the period of slavery, the economic circumstances under which many of them still live, give rise to discontent, anger and frustration: long hours and poor working conditions, low wages, and in many instances, unem- ployment unrelieved by Social Security benefits. Many women in response to these pressures, attempt to find economic security in a series of relationships with different men only to find themselves and the resulting children repeatedly deserted. Some mothers and/or grandmothers struggling with all of the responsibility for the children, tend to vent their dissatisfaction on the children who fail to comply with their attempts at socialisation. Most times the punishment seems to have a ritualised character for the relief of anxiety.

Mothers make great sacrifices and attempt to provide for their children some of life’s advantages which were denied them in their own childhood. They set great store by education seeing this as a means of upward social mobility and hoping that the children escape from the rigours of poverty. When the children seem indifferent, are careless of their possessions, and “refuse” to make good use of educational opportunities, these failings tend to be regarded as personal rebuffs and rejection.

RELIGION’S INFLUENCE ON PUNISHMENT

Many mothers seek solace in religion and cling to some of the admonitions of the Old Testament of the Bible as guides to child rearing, and one of these taken literally most often is “He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” [6]. The punishment

Use of corporal punishment in the West Indies 143

may be administered with a strap, a stick, a shoe, or any object which may be conveniently at hand; but there is no deliberate intention of causing injury.

ATTEMPTS TO INSTIL OBEDIENCE

Discussion with parents about their leaning towards the excessive use of corporal punishment reveal that most of them felt strongly that implicit obedience was the norm for children. Most mothers recalled their obedience to their own mothers and expected the same from their children [7]. They saw their children’s bad behaviour or disobedience as a poor reflection on their ability to train them and were concerned that should the disobedience lead to any serious harm befalling the children, “the authorities” would hold them responsible and liable under the law for neglect. Parents therefore considered it necessary to instil obedience and they did this in the only way they knew how by “beating.”

This high parental emphasis on unquestioning obedience and unquestioning behaviour is re- garded as being positively linked with childhood history of severe punishment and submission to parental authority [8].

This unconditional obedience and the idea that severe “beating” is a solution to the problem of disobedience and open defiance has an extension or added dimension; the adolescent’s reaction to separation and other traumatic experiences is often misinterpreted and the results are unfortunate. Adolescence is already accompanied by conflict and confusion, and in the event of the loss of the father, for example, through migration or death or divorce of the parents, the adolescent’s behaviour may digress from the norm and might even appear to be defiant. In these circumstances, the assistance of “the iron hand’ of an uncle or senior male relative is often solicited with the threat, “I will have to get your uncle to give you a good beating, you miss your father’s hand.”

INCONSISTENCY OF DISCIPLINING

The ignorant ways about which Patterson writes may be found among a cross-section of West Indian parents. Young children are indulged, their capacity for imitation is highly undervalued and they are not credited with the ability to understand before fluency of speech occurs. When finally they are able to speak, usually their questions go unanswered, and there is little encour- agement for them to converse with adults, with parents adopting the Victorian attitude of children being seen and not heard.

IF NOT BEATING-WHAT DO YOU DO?

The practice of “beating” tends to persist among some families who attain better socio-economic standards of living which would allow them to impose discipline by other means, such as with- holding pocket money, or socially isolating the children by sending them early to bed. The reluctance to use other forms of punishment was observed by teachers working in a London Clinic with parents of West Indian origin, whose young children had been selected for compensatory education. In discussing the question of disciplining, the parents asked, “if you do not beat them what do you do?’

IS IMPOSING SANCTIONS WITHHOLDING LOVE?

“While the parents felt that beating was ineffective and retributory and were anxious about the feelings it aroused in them, memories of their own beating were not far below the surface, the

144 Elaine Arnold

teacher’s idea ‘deprive them of T.V. ’ was obviously too remote a concept, based on the withholding of gratification, for them to consider viable” [9]. In the absence of any empirical data, it is not fair to comment on the validity of this opinion. I venture to advance the theory that West Indian parents view imposing sanctions such as the one quoted above, as withholding love. Children are expected to understand that punishment is inflicted because they are loved and because parents care. This would seem to be a useful area for research.

APPEALS FOR HELP

In the West Indian islands, many lower-income parents seek the help of agencies such as the Police, Child-Care Departments, Probation Services or Juvenile Courts after every form of physical punishment has been tried and found ineffective in obtaining the results of good and conforming behaviour. Paradoxically enough, on some of the Statute books, whipping is one prescribed way of dealing with children described as Juvenile Offenders. In Trinidad & Tobago, corporal pun- ishment was seldom recommended by the Juvenile Courts “as it has been found to have little or no practical value in arresting or preventing delinquency. It is quite usual for the delinquent before the Court to have become immune to such treatment because of the severe beatings to which he had previously been subjected” [lo].

Boys, particularly in the age range 5- 13 are frequently labelled by their parents as uncon- trollable, and as a last resort their removal from home is requested. For example, out of 2,400 children presenting problems and taken to the Intake Service of the Child Care and Protection Division, Kingston, Jamaica, over a 6-year period, 770 or 32% were boys in the 5-- 13 age group, and the complaints were made mainly by single mothers [ 111.

NEED FOR PARENT COUNSELLING

Clearly there seems to be the urgent neccessity for some assistance to be given to parents and especially single mothers to examine their methods of parenting and to discover other channels for the relief of their anxieties and emotional pressures, besides the automatic physical mistreatment of their children.

Throughout the islands, Governments pay attention to the physical care of the young child. There are Antenatal Clinics, and mothers are encouraged to make full use of them and there is some domiciliary care by Health Visitors; but the dissemminating of knowledge of human growth and development, and the emotional needs of children have not kept pace with that of physical care.

One important point which needs to be stressed among the bulk of West Indian parents, is the necessity to communicate with their children when they are young, in order to help to establish a trusting relationship and to lay the foundation for the translation of imposed discipline into self- discipline. They need to learn to talk “with’ their children, rather than always “to” or “at.” It should not be too early to begin in schools with girls and boys alike to help them to understand the basic principles of human growth and development, and what is considered effective parenting.

REGIONAL INITIATIVE

In 1973, a Regional Pre-School Development Project was initiated by the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, sponsored by U.N.I.C.E.F. Among its broadly stated objectives were:

1. To encourage Governments within the Region to formulate National Policies for pre-school children within their economic and social development plans, and to provide the necessary enlightened legislative framework to support such policies.

Use of corporal punishment in the West Indies 145

2. To develop parent education programmes in order to stimulate a better understanding of the development of the young child and the importance of early childhood training [ 121.

The first objective may be considered long-term, but needs careful consideration and commit- ment to implementation, if Governments value the potential of their people and accept the im- plications for the future.

NEED FOR RESEARCH

Research into the effect of this persistent and excessive use of corporal punishment on the West Indian child is lacking. It is surmised that the children accept the practice and feel little or no resentment against their parents and others who inflict the punishment; but in discussions with some young people, the “beatings” which they received seemed uppermost in their minds. They frequently described their parents as being unreasonable, unprepared to explain their demands, and bent on using their power as adults and parents to overide their (the children’s) wishes.

NEED FOR ATTITUDE CHANGE

If parents who use corporal punishment excessively as a way of disciplining their children are to be helped, there seems to be the necessity for a change of attitudes to the practice, throughout the community. Mainly the attitude that parents have the privilege and the duty honoured by time to inflict excessive corporal punishment* upon their children.

REFERENCES

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3.

4. 5. 6. I.

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BLAKE, J., Family Srrucfure in Jamaica. N.Y. Free Press of Glencoe, pp. 58-62 (1951). RUBIN, V. and ZAVOLLONI, M. We Wish to be Looked Upon. Teachers Press, Teachers College, Columbia University, pp. 123- 124 (1969). STAPLETON, P., Child rearing in West Africa. Sfudies in Inter-Culfural Social Work, p. 8. British Association of Social Workers’ Publication Birmingham, U.K. (1977). HOGG, P., Slavery, The Afro-American Experience. The British Library, London, p. 44 (1979). PATTERSON, O., The Sociology of Slavery. Granada Publishing Limited, p. 168 (1967). The Holy Bible, Proverbs, Chapter 13, V. 24. Authorised King James Version, Collins Clear-Type Press. ROBERTSON, E., Out of Sight-Not Out of Mind. A Study of West Indian Mothers in London, separated from their children for long periods and subsequently reunited. Unpublished Thesis, University of Sussex, U.K. (1975). LESTER and CROWE, D. P., A strict behaviour test of obedience and some child rearing correlates. Persona&y 1:85-93 (1970). GORELL-BARNES, G., Seen but not heard; the isolated West Indian parent and child in London. Srudies in Inrer- Cultural Social Work, op. cit., p. 47. Children of the Caribbean-Their Mental Health Needs. Proceedings of the Second Caribbean Conference for Mental Health, Department of Health, Puerto Rico, Department of Health, U.S. Virgin Islands, The National Institute of Mental Health, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (1961). BRODBER, E., Abandonmenr of Children in Jamaica. Institute of Social and Economic Research, University West Indies, pp. 30-33 (1974). Objectives for Regional Pre-School Development. University West Indies, Jamaica, p. I (1973).

*Excessive corporal punishment may be described as flogging used for any and every misdemeanour no matter how trivial and without regard for the age and stage of the development of the child.