You should spend 40 minutes on this task.

It is important for children to learn the difference between right and wrong at an early age. Punishment is necessary to help them learn this distinction. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? What sort of punishment should parents and teachers be allowed to use to teach good behaviour to children?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge.

Write at least 250 words. 

FOR VIDEO EXPLANATION: https://youtu.be/jgUTvns3Uh8

It is generally believed that in order to make children distinguish between right and wrong, punishments are inevitable at their tender ages. As better alternatives are available to discipline children, I cannot consider it as a mandatory option.   

 The cardinal reason why I do not recommend any punishments at this age is because their brains are not fully developed to learn what exactly is right and wrong. To be precise, at this early period, they would often find confused if they are disciplined. The second reason why I think it is not advisable is because it might have some sorts of emotional disturbances in them, which may affect them adversely. For example, if a child is punished physically or emotionally, it primarily creates negative emotions like stress, anxiety, panic or aggression in varying levels. In some children, the impact of these may stay longer, and would adversely affect their future life.

As a better alternative, parents and other elders should be good role models in front of children at their tender ages. Moral stories and childhood plays in which good behaviours are integrated can also help children understand the difference between good and bad better than disciplining them in a harsh way.

 I admit that punishments are necessary in early childhood in case of children who exhibit extreme maladaptive behaviours. Except in such cases, punishments are advisable only in the later childhood when they have almost attained adequate intellectual and emotional maturity to identify the consequences of their behaviour. At this stage too, harsh corporal punishments are not recommended from the part of either parents or teachers.

 To conclude, except in unavoidable situations, punishments are unacceptable in the early childhood. However, children can be punished in a lenient way in the later stages of their childhood if they behave wrong.