Smacking Children- should it be banned?

[baahlamb]

Hello,
In my opinion, smacking children should not be banned due to the fact that children do not always understand certain concepts and are often beyond reason. Some times they can be frankly disobedient and no matter how many times you ask or persist in a reasonable fashion they can refuse to do as they are told. By the way, I am the loving attentive full time mother of a six year old fiesty intelligent girl and I work in my local school as a volunteer storyteller.

I was regularly smacked by my own mother and I do not in any way feel emotionally or mentally traumatized by this kind of punishment. In fact, if I think back and remember, I can say that she only did it after warning me a few times to refrain from whatever mischief I was up to. It did not really hurt, but it was enough to stop me in my tracks.

I have come across reports that try to blame the development of aggressive behavior on smacking children. I think this is total rubbish. If this were really true then why is it that the U.S and the U.K (which are the main countries with lots of individuals against smacking) are full of delinquents and and anti social behavior? If you go to countries like Spain and Italy you will find that smacking children if perfectly normal way of discipline and they do not suffer the same levels of aggressive behavior socially as we do.

These individuals on their high moral ground pointing their fingers at good parents should be taking a good look at themselves and the narrow minded views they are pushing onto others. Children are listening to these people which could demean the authority of parents. This in itself is dangerous.

I could go on forever. Jo

[greenalien]

Smacking your kids while they are smaller than you is just bullying. Once they've grown up, smacking should be allowed - but so should hitting back - fair's fair.
IMO, It isn't lack of discipline that causes kids to go off the rails - it's lack of parental love and attention. Unfortunately there are still too many people who discover sex before they discover contraception, so a lot of kids are unwanted, and often get told or find out. Hardly the basis for a stable childhood.

[baahlamb]

How can you say that smacking children is bullying. That like saying telling them off is bullying or trying to get them to behave or upsetting them in anyway is bullying. I think that attention, love and education in it's many forms which include discipline are the most important ingredients when raising children. Rejection, lack of empathy, lack of communication and a lack of exercise are things that I feel are effecting todays children and families. If you look at children today in comparison to our parents generation, they did not have the same level of aggression on the streets as we do now. I feel that a lack of discipline is the cause with many parents (including my self) being made to feel like they have to tippy toe round children and spoil them with consumerism and stuff them with food and fill their heads full of useless information. What kind of monsters are we creating?

[eunos_rsh]

Never did me any harm. Theres a difference between smacking and beating.