Your friends are the parents of an aggressive six-year-old son. When their son behaves aggressively, they spank him to punish him for his behavior. They have not seen any improvement in his behavior and they have asked you for advice

What can you tell them about parental behavior that is related to aggression in children?
What will be an ideal response?

A good answer will be similar to the following:
Your friends should examine their behavior because parents and siblings play a large role in cultivating aggressive behavior in children. First, your friends should stop spanking their son because physical punishment only suppresses aggression in the short-term and it provides the child with a model that aggression does work to control others. Other parental behaviors such as low-key anger, unfair accusations, and frequent expressions of irritation at a child's behavior are related to greater aggression in children. Second, your friends need to determine if they are punishing their son even when he is behaving appropriately. Once parents label a child as aggressive, they are more likely to accuse that child of aggression and punish the child even when he is acting appropriately. Third, your friends should discourage aggression (by punishing it or ignoring it) while encouraging and rewarding other nonaggressive behaviors.