Complete Ban On Smacking Children.

[nicebloke1]

Whats your view, I can't make my mind up.

[davebro3]

//OK...we can't hit children.....but its ok to send them to school hungry!//

Not saying it was ideal but I never had breakfast before school (and I don't recall feeling "hungry" at all - but I was ready for my school dinner).

In fact I didn't start to eat regularly in the morning until after I retired. 

There were no overweight/obese kids back then either!

[vulcan42]

At 09:59 I wrote"Most people these days equate a smack as the equivalent as hitting." The contributors since have more or less proved that, using, beat, hit, slapping, spanking, striking and corporal punishment; which incidently means  to cause pain. I and others have talked about a gentle corrective tap. Please tell me how you would deal with a two year old who is trying to insert a metal object into an electrical socket so that they wouldn't do it again? 

[davebro3]

I would make sure they didn't have access to insertable metal objects. (ridiculous invented scenario not withstanding)

[naomi24]

^Eyes in back of head a necessity.

[nicebloke1]

@11.27. Neglect of your child is a crime, and a child being hungry is not such a crime but if that hunger leads to that child being ill then the chances are it will go to court. Tax payers footing the bill for hungry kids? If thats the case then everyone is helping stopping that child becoming ill, I dont have a problem with that.

@12.00. No organizations work to perfection but without them it would be a lot worse, you only hear of the bad points, never the many good ones.

[albaqwerty]

Spare the rod, spoil the child.

I've never quite managed to understand that phrase.

A tap on the back of the hand is completely different from striking with a leather belt, or other device.

how is it going to be policed? 

[nicebloke1]

How is it going to be policed? Thats a good question and its a problem with a lot of laws. If you see an adult smack a child in the park, what do you do? ingnore, phone the police, get involved to stop it? The best you can hope for i guess is it will stop some smacking.

[DDIL]

I am in favour of a ban because I was I grew up with a parent who though that discipline meant beating me with a wooden spoon was acceptable.

[nicebloke1]

I was sitting here remembering getting a  beating back in the sixties at school by headmasters and teachers with that muti leather strap and a slipper on your backside. Looking back it did nothing more than make me a complete bag of nerves to go to school. Glad it was got rid of.

[nicebloke1]

Multi^^

[Prudie]

I actually thought it was already banned. Need to re-educate myself. I would say in response to sandy's comment earlier "I'm against teaching children that violence works." that on face value who would disagree but in reality the idea that children/people are less violent now than they were when a clip round the ear was given by a teacher or policeman is a fantasy.

Something is teaching young people today that violence works.

[theshedman]

From your first post nicebloke, have you got children and if so did you smack them.  I didn't find that a smack hurt which is different to hitting a child.  In school we had teachers who would give the cane for no reason and others who would only do it when they thought it was deserved.  We respected the latter but not the first as we knew the difference.

[nicebloke1]

^^ Yes I had 2 children and never punished them in the form of hitting/ smacking them. Dont know if having 2 girls made a difference in not doing so or my personal experience of home and school life. School life i hated after such harsh punishment and homelife was not much better at times, the leather belt was always on standby at home.

 

[Cloverjo]

  Theshedman: "I didn't find that a smack hurt which is different to hitting a child".

Is a smack different from a hit? 
 

It's horrible and upsetting for a child. There is no way I would hit my grandson. 

[Atheist]

11:52 "Advocates for a ban wrongly equate smacking with hitting, misrepresenting it as an act of anger rather than a considered form of discipline."

I believe that an occasional spur of the moment smack teaches a child that some behaviour is so wrong that even lovely mum or dad can be goaded into losing their rag. What is worse is to be told that they have been very naughty and that they will be physically punished when mum or dad gets home; they then have to wait in fear (and resentment) until they are formally struck by a cold and stern parent.

[jourdain2]

I think Atheist has exemplifie the difference here between reasonable (indeed positive physical chastisement and bullying/beating behaviour). 

I certainly smacked my children when they needed it (which was rare with No. 1 but more necessary with 2nd daughter). 

I did not beat them up, they are well balanced, positive people who also occasionally had to smack their offspring. (I except grandson who is rather weird, was never smacked but then attacked other children - a swift smack on the leg did stop that.)

I smacked my youngest's hand because she kept crawling towards the gas fire and trying to touch the flames.  She carried on - so in the end I stood by with a bowl of cold water and watched her touch the flames.....scream, hand firmly plonked in cold water, no harm done and a lesson learned.

Mostly a quick smack is the most effective discipline. 

I do not advocate beating etc., etc..

 

 

[Untitled]

"I did not beat them up, they are well balanced, positive people who also occasionally had to smack their offspring."

what a surprise. a person who was hit when they were a child just so happens to do exactly the same to their children too. what a coincidence. 
 

you taught your child that violence inside the family was acceptable and when they grew up they did the same thing. 

[Cloverjo]

Jourdain: "I smacked my youngest's hand because she kept crawling towards the gas fire and trying to touch the flames.  She carried on..."

So the smack didn't work then. She was hurt twice. 

[haras2]

https://www.google.com/search?q=Is+child+smacking+illegal+i

It is illegal in Wales

[nicebloke1]

20.24. So you let a child burn themselves as a lesson? somewhat over the top dont you think? Would it not have been your responsibility to make sure the fire was guarded and secure from little hands?