Photo: Parisa Michelle/Splash
Despite how she was raised,Ryan Michelle Bathedoes not plan on using corporal punishment on her two sons with husbandSterling K. Brown: Amaré, now 3, and Andrew, 8 this month.
The method of physical punishment was, according to Bathe, common when she was growing up in St. Louis — but when it comes to her own children, she doesn’t share her family’s ideas on discipline.
“The good news is that my husband and I are in agreement about corporal punishment,” she shares. “So we continue forward. Praying for guidance. Hoping that love will be enough.”
Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathe.Mike Coppola/Getty
PEOPLE spoke withDr. Robin Gurwitch, a psychologist and professor at Duke University Medical Center, about the effectiveness of corporal punishment — and she immediately pointed out how “research over the past several decadesconfirms the negative effects of spanking, any corporal punishment and verbal shaming.”
Dr. Elizabeth Murray, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester, tells PEOPLE that “the dynamic of ‘I love you and I hurt you’ is completely the wrong message.”
Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
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In her essay, Bathe does address the challenges she and herThis Is Usactor husband, 43, face as a result of their joint decision.
“When you’ve been raised a certain way, divorcing yourself from everything you know makes learning something new extremely difficult,” the actress writes, admittingtheir older son“is not afraid of us. At all. And I don’t know what to do about it.”
“My husband and I are doing our bestto take it one day at a time, but with kids, it’s scary not to have a plan,” she adds.
To read Ryan Michelle Bathe’s full essay, pick up the latest issue ofPEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com
