Piano Guidance
Photo by RODNAE Productions Pexels Logo Photo: RODNAE Productions

Can smacking a child cause trauma?

Hitting Children Leads to Trauma, Not Better Behavior — Developmental Science.

Can a pianist play the organ?
Can a pianist play the organ?

Yes, you can play organ music on the piano quite easily. What makes it easier to do is that the piano has more octaves, and can capture all the...

Read More »
How much does it cost to tune an upright piano?
How much does it cost to tune an upright piano?

Typically, most piano tuners charge by the hour, but $100 to $200 every 6-12 months is much cheaper than having the piano restrung. This process...

Read More »

Kier Gaines, a therapist, social media influencer, and father of two, describes the dynamic in an Instagram video that went viral. “The men that were a generation before us, got raised by the men that were a generation before them, and those men didn’t really know warm love….Before you take on a family,” he says, “go see somebody about your past. Go see somebody about the trauma you’ve endured throughout your life, and start healing.”

Hitting children, even for “discipline,” is a form of trauma.

Some adults cling to the excuse that a single swat on the bottom, or one slap on the head, can’t be that bad, and is necessary to “teach them a lesson.” “Is there any kind of hitting that works to change behavior?” I asked Gershoff. “There’s no situation that I can imagine where physical punishment is useful or necessary,” replied Gershoff. “It doesn’t teach children to behave well. It’s not effective for reducing aggression, or teaching self-control or prosocial behavior, or any of the things parents hope to teach children. It’s not effective in either the short- or the long-term.” Physical punishment is one of the most intensely studied aspects of parenting. Hundreds of studies over five decades have concluded that it’s harmful to children in just about every measurable way. Children’s behavior, emotions, intellectual functioning, and physical health all suffer. Gershoff’s most recent 2016 meta-analysis with Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, professor of social work at the University of Michigan, analyzed 75 studies involving 161,000 children. Three important conclusions were drawn: First, consistent with earlier research, the analysis found no evidence that physical punishment changed the original, unwanted behavior.

Second, there were 13 significant harmful effects of the practice:

Poorer moral reasoning

Increased childhood aggression

Increased antisocial behavior

Increased externalizing behavior problems (disruptive or harmful behavior directed at other people or things)

Increased internalizing behavior problems (symptoms of anxiety or depression)

Child mental health problems

Impaired parent-child relationship

Impaired cognitive ability and impaired academic achievement

Lower self-esteem

More likely to be a victim of physical abuse

Antisocial behavior in adulthood

Mental health problems in adulthood

Alcohol or substance abuse problems in adulthood

Support for physical punishment in adulthood

What is A 1024th note called?
What is A 1024th note called?

U+E1E5. note1024thUp. 1024th note (semihemidemisemihemidemisemiquaver) stem up.  U+E1E6.

Read More »
Who was the first female singer to sell a million records?
Who was the first female singer to sell a million records?

Patsy Montana, whose 1935 recording of “I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart” is believed to be the first record by a female country singer to sell 1...

Read More »

Third, these outcomes were similar to effects of childhood trauma. A landmark set of studies in the 1990s documented that exposure to certain kinds of childhood experiences—including physical and emotional abuse or neglect, sexual abuse, domestic violence, family mental illness, incarceration, and substance abuse—causes great harm lasting into adulthood. And the more adverse experiences a child has, the greater the impact. The effects include increased risk for serious physical diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and COPD as well as early death, mental illness, suicidality, lower educational and professional attainment, and even reduced income. As a result of these findings, a ten-question screening tool known as the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Checklist is now widely used to identify risk for mental and physical illnesses due to ACEs, in the hope of providing early intervention and treatment. Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor analyzed a subset of seven studies from their meta-analysis that compared the use of physical punishment to physical abuse and found that the impact was indistinguishable. Both physical punishment and physical abuse led to more antisocial behavior and mental health problems in childhood as well as increased mental health problems in adulthood. In a separate study, Gershoff and colleagues reanalyzed a subset of the original ACEs data and also found that physical punishment was associated with the same mental health problems in adulthood as physical and emotional abuse. In addition, it created an even greater likelihood of suicide attempts and substance abuse than physical and emotional abuse alone created. Brain imaging studies also show a link between physical punishment and trauma. In a 2021 study, researchers showed 147 12-year-olds pictures of fearful and neutral faces while their brain activity was imaged in a functional MRI (fMRI) machine. Compared to children who were never physically punished, children who were physically punished had greater activity throughout the brain when viewing fearful faces. They also had more activity in regions of the brain related to threat appraisal, emotion regulation, and evaluating the mental state of others. Importantly, the pattern of their brain activity was the same as children who had been physically abused. When children have harmful interpersonal experiences, they become hypervigilant to the emotional expressions of others, because fearful or angry adult faces can be a cue that something bad is likely to follow. This study suggests that children who are physically punished are running the same brain circuitry as children who have been abused. Data like this shows that the attempt to distinguish between physical punishment and physical abuse is no longer legitimate. What we now know is that inside the child, the response is the same. According to Gershoff, “Research like this may help parents understand that when they’re hitting their children, they’re causing fundamental damage to the child’s brain—not because they’re hitting them in the head. They’re hitting them in other places on their body, and it’s causing a massive stress reaction every time. And it gets worse every time it happens. That stress ramps up and ramps up and causes physical and mental health problems.” As a result, Gershoff and colleagues, and many other scientists, call for physical punishment to be identified and screened for as an additional ACE.

What does FN F12 mean?
What does FN F12 mean?

The default F12 key primary function on Apple keyboards is to turn down the audio. Pressing fn + F12 for the secondary function is F12. Oct 18, 2022

Read More »
What are the top 10 most difficult instruments to play?
What are the top 10 most difficult instruments to play?

The 11 Hardest Musical Instruments to Learn Violin. The violin is a wooden stringed instrument that's part of a larger family of similar...

Read More »

Other countries are far ahead of the U.S.

Worldwide, three out of four (close to 300 million) children two-to-four years of age are punished with violence regularly, including physical punishment or verbal abuse from parents or caregivers. In some countries, children as young as 12 months are regularly hit, according to a 2017 UNICEF study. But momentum is growing to outlaw corporal punishment of children in all settings, including home and school. (The term “corporal punishment” is used internationally, and in the U.S. it refers to physical punishment in schools. It’s defined as the intentional use of physical force to cause pain or discomfort, or non-physical force that is cruel or degrading.) Currently, 63 countries have a full prohibition on corporal punishment, inside and outside the home. The map below shows the status of each country. (This link takes you to the interactive map, where you can find more details about each country’s progress.)

How do you mic a live piano upright sound?
How do you mic a live piano upright sound?

Although you can mic an upright piano with only a single microphone, most engineers prefer placing two microphones at similar depths on opposite...

Read More »
What's another word for pianist?
What's another word for pianist?

What is another word for pianist? accompanist instrumentalist musician player pianoist piano player

Read More »
Is F1 better than F2?
Is F1 better than F2?

An F2 has approximately 620 horsepower, while an F1 car stands at an estimated 1000 horsepower. On the whole Formula 1 cars are faster and much...

Read More »
Can you convert a regular piano to a player piano?
Can you convert a regular piano to a player piano?

Can any piano be converted to a player piano? Most grand or upright pianos can be converted into a player piano. There are some pianos that can't...

Read More »