Controversial Vote on smacking in House of Lords

[gobbo]

What is the opinions of those on Hexus.net

P.S - ph33r my photoshop skillz!

[Emzay]

on smacking kids? should be legal - a good smack every now n then when i was havin a tantrum never turned me into no thug

On smackign tony blair? Pass me the cricket bat

[gobbo]

Ditto really. I used to get smacked when i was being a ba**ard and it didn't do me any harm.

On the Tony Blair issue, just give me a time and a place.

[shiato storm]

"Give 'em a slap and shout NAAAAAAAAOOOOOO!..."
harry enfield style...

[Ferral]

Put it into a different perspective, they are saying its adults assaulting kids basically.

About 2 month ago my now 3 yr old son attacked me with a pair of scissors, he knew exactly what he was doing and done some minor damage to the tendon behind my right knee (bit that sticks out on the back of you're leg on both sides). He also takes pride in running at me when I'm not looking his way and headbutting me between the legs.

Given this situation, what would you do. Scream and shout at him, give him a time out in the corner of the room ? I can tell you now, this doesn't work. He screams and shouts making as much noise as he can making it impossible to think let alone do anything else and the moment you turn you're back hes up and going for one of the 2 daughters.

Can the MP's say its unreasonable to smack a child that is willingly and knowingly hurting his parents physically and his 2 sisters.

Granted he NEVER gets smacked with some sort of object (slipper, belt, ruler or whatever else like I used to receive when I was younger) but that kind of behaviour deserves punishment and a time out is no good at all. He has to learn if he hurts someone in that way he will get a smacked backside and put to bed early.

I will admit that in certain situations like temper tantrums the time out works great or taking something off him for a few days untill he behaves but if he is violent and it is not tackled the right way the child will and does get worse.

[gobbo]

I think it should be at the discression of the parent, provided that they do'nt cause unnecessary physical or mental damage to the child.

[chriscom]

I think smacking is wrong and anyone who thinks its alright deserves a good clip around the ear.

[Nemeliza]

"If you cant listen you must feel" thats what my mamma used to say to me and i thoroughly agree!!!!
im 19 now and my mamma still wouldnt hesitate to slap the f**k out of me if i need it.

[subucni]

I think it should be at the discression of the parent, provided that they do'nt cause unnecessary physical or mental damage to the child.

precisely

that is exactly where the problem lies and why there's never really going to be a conclusive yes or no answer to the question. for responsible sounding parents like Ferral, of course it should be allowed. i completely agree with his point that somethings require a more severe punishment than others to make them learn quickly how bad they've been and how wrong something is, otherwise next chance those scissors could have been heading towards his sisters.

the problem with smacking only comes into it regarding lazy/irresponsible parents who use it as a punishment all the time because they know its a quick fix that always works. what does a kid learn if they get a smack for just wanting sweets in a shop and then gets the same punishment for starting a fight with another kid. all that teaches them is that they'll get the same punishment no matter what, so the scale of their misbehaving doesn't matter.

my brother, sister and myself were all smacked as kids. my mum used to use a wooden kitchen spoon across our backsides, and i don't feel any disrespect towards her for it at all. lets face it, it's not going to do any damage to the kid if done responsibly and the thought of the sore bum they had for 10-20minutes is going to deter them a lot more the next time, then being sent to their room where all their toys are kept. no responsible loving parent actually wants to do it to them or gets enjoyment from it (if they did they should probably be hung in my opinion, or maybe thats too good for them) they only do it with the kid's interests at heart as they need to learn right, wrong and the consequences. with us it became the fact that if we were doing something that deserved a smacked bum all my mum had to do was get out the wooden spoon and smack it hard on the kitchen work top and we soon remembered, learnt our lesson and stopped playing up without actually getting hit. some people would go politically correct mad and say thats a form of mental abuse but it's better than physical abuse and made me learnt right from wrong,and when the kid grows upto be a responsible person they'll realise it was for their own good. looking back on it i'm glad my mum and dad threatened us with the wooden spoon.


:edit: hahaha, i just read that last line back, i didnt intend to make my parents sound like crazed maniacs, hahaha

[0iD]

If you slapped an adult you could be up on an assault charge, so why not give a child the same rights?

[Skii]

If you slapped an adult you could be up on an assault charge, so why not give a child the same rights?

I cannot believe that certain groups are comparing a smack on the backside to physical assault, just a typical knee jerk reaction from people who really should know better.

The problem here is that people are completely failing to see that there is a million miles difference between responsible parents who smack their unruly kid on the backside for being naughty, and the out and out sadists and abusers who should never have been allowed to have a child in the first place.

Do people honestly think that any law is going to stop an abuser harming a child ? NO, we just end up with responsible parents getting fined and imprissoned for giving little Tarquin a tap on the backside when he tried to run across the A412

How about we keep our sticky beaks out of peoples business and concentrate on the Victoria Cilimbie's that are still in our society that haven't yet been spotted because of incompetent authorities and ineffective laws that are unable to deal with a kid that really IS in trouble.

Cilimbies 'guardians' didn't smack her in front of people, they did it in secret, no silly smacking law would have made any difference to what happened to that poor kid.

Grrrrrr

[Rob]

If you slapped an adult you could be up on an assault charge, so why not give a child the same rights?

Slapping a child for no reason IS child abuse, as it is illegal to slap a passer by cos their ugly. They HAVE the same rights.

However, an restrained clip or smacked arse when lecturing/raising voice has failed is not fricking child abuse. If used sparingly, and the child is warned of the consequences of his actions before so, then I cannot possibly see how this can harm a child. Never did me.

All this sit and talk to them b****cks is why a majority of 16 year olds round here think they own the street, threaten old people cos 'its a laugh', and tell you 'you cant touch me' if you try to intervene.

[0iD]

As a father of four, i've never had to, nor felt the need to smack any of my kids. Both my parents smacked me, the old man's belt was a weekly occurrance. All it did was make me resent my parents & rebell harder.

[Rob]

As a father of four, i've never had to, nor felt the need to smack any of my kids. Both my parents smacked me, the old man's belt was a weekly occurrance. All it did was make me resent my parents & rebell harder.

I would agree, using a belt (or cane, or any hard obect) is too severe. The sole object of a smacked a*** is to dent their pride not their bones!

[0iD]

I'm not anti smacking, I believe that with some kids it has it's place, but sometimes it can be more a release of anger for the parent than a punishment for the child.

[Rob]

but sometimes it can be more a release of anger for the parent than a punishment for the child.

And this is where the danger lies. Hence my saying 'restrained'.