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Elizabeth T. Gershoff is a professor of human development and family sciences at The University of Texas at Austin and an expert on the effects of physical punishment on children. The views expressed here are solely the author's. View more opinion articles on CNN. CNN Years of research have shown that spanking children is ineffective and potentially harmful. These facts have led the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend , in a new policy statement published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, that parents not spank, hit or slap their children.

When you next take your child to the doctor for a check-up, she or he may be asking you a new question. How do you handle things in your family when you just can't get your child to behave? The leading organization of children's doctors, The American Academy of Pediatrics, has just published new strong guidelines recommending that all parents refrain from spanking their children. According to the new guidelines, "Parents, other caregivers, and adults interacting with children and adolescents should not use corporal punishment including hitting and spanking , either in anger or as a punishment

Though some contend any form of physical correction equates to child abuse, there is a giant chasm between a mild spanking properly administered out of love and an out-of-control adult venting their emotions by physically abusing a child. Unfortunately, each of us enters this world with desires that are selfish, unkind, and harmful to others and ourselves. It is vital, however, that spanking be administered within proper guidelines. The reports about the punishment meted out by Peterson to his son, and the consequent injuries his son suffered, indicate his behavior on that occasion was far outside those boundaries.

Parents should not spank their children, the American Academy of Pediatrics said on Monday in its most strongly worded policy statement warning against the harmful effects of corporal punishment in the home. Robert D. Sege, a pediatrician at Tufts Medical Center and the Floating Hospital for Children in Boston, and one of the authors of the statement. A analysis of multiple studies , for example, found that children do not benefit from spanking.