Parenting is challenging for everyone, especially with the air of judgement and opinion that tends to surround the parenting sphere of discussion online. And being a celebrity doesn’t make things easier. If anything, people are more likely to judge. For example, there was a bit of a buzz when star singer Kelly Clarkson admitted in a radio interview that she spanks her daughter.
“I’m not above spanking, which people aren’t necessarily into,” she said on 98.9 The Buzz, from Rochester, New York. “I don’t mean, like, hitting her hard, I just mean a spanking.”
Like many people, Clarkson was spanked by her parents when she was a child, and defended her decision to use the same sort of discipline with her 3-year-old daughter. “My parents spanked me, and I did fine in life,” she said. “I’m from the South, y’all. So, like, we get spankings.”
While some believe physical discipline, such as spanking, is an effective technique to teach kids respect and good behavior, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents “do not spank or use other physical punishment” to address their child’s undesirable behavior. “That only teaches aggressive behavior, and becomes ineffective if used often,” states the AAP. A 2016 study, the most comprehensive ever done on the topic of spanking, has found that children who are spanked end up more defiant, exhibit anti-social behaviors and experience more mental health problems than their non-spanked peers.
But Kelly Clarkson believes it’s just fine and says she knows what the limits of spanking are. “I warn her,” said Clarkson, about her daughter River Rose. “I’m like, ‘Hi, I’m going to spank you on your bottom if you don’t stop right now, this is ridiculous,’ and honestly it’s really helped. She doesn’t do that kind of stuff as often.” The popstar does find it questionable to spank in public, though. “That’s a tricky thing, when you’re out in public, because then people are like, they think that’s wrong or something, but I find nothing wrong with a spanking,” she said.
