Smacking Children- should it be banned?

[Rave]

Well, not much to say about the US election now, just gotta wait and see. For something to discuss in the meantime, the main story from this country today, should smacking children be banned? Discuss.

My view is that it should not. The question was asked in the commons today: 'why should children not be accorded the same legal protection against being physically struck as adults?' I'll tell you why: when adults misbehave they can in theory be reasoned with and told why what they're doing is wrong. If they choose to misbehave anyway, there are laws to stop them. Children OTOH are the responsibility of their parents, and in a lot of cases are not capable of seeing the reason why what they want isn't allowed. Sad as it sounds, sometime pain is the only language they understand.

The problem as I see it is that the people who want to ban smacking fail to see that there's a clear distinction between a brief disciplinary smack and a proper beating. My Mum used to smack me regularly when I was a child, but her intention was never to hurt me, only to stop me misbehaving when a verbal warning failed. She was in every respect a wonderfully patient and loving parent, and her smacking me did me no harm at all, in fact I reckon it probably did me good.

Rich :¬)

[mike_w]

I reckon smacking shouldn't be banned. As Rave said, there is a difference between proper discipline and abusing a child. As a child, I was smacked on rare occasions, and I know that it certainly made me behave, and know what I was doing wrong. People say that smacking is wrong is because it hurts children - I support smacking in that it should only be used on rare occasions, as the last resort, not as something that a parent does every time a child does something wrong. If a child knows the parent could smack them if they really misbehave, then a the threat of a smack is often more than enough since they know that the parent will go through with it if they continue misbehaving. This means that the parent rarely actually has to smack the children anyway.

[Howard]

I was smacked occasionally when I stepped out of line. It stopped me. THat's it's purpose.

Beating continuoously and abusing them however is another matter

[TeePee]

Where is the line between smacking and abuse?

[Rave]

Abuse is when smacking the child just frightens them, rather than teaching them a lesson. Essentially, I think it's fair to say that one smack will be enough 99% of the time, after that it become a beating and hence abuse.

Rich :¬)

[TiG]

I'm with you here, but then my parents where responsible people that taught me right from wrong. I think thats the concept here with whats important, there is no one right way to raise kids. But if a kid constantly plays up, a smack in the last resort has always appeared to work to bring a kid back in line.

I do think that it has to be tailored to how old the kid is tho, I only ever got smacked by my mum, I'd prefer to see that happen than see a grown man hit a kid.

I think it should be allowed but it is down to parents to use it wisely.

TiG

[Butuz]

NO smacking should not be banned.

Giving the kid the odd ocasional slap round the thighs to keep them in line is totally different from physically abusing a child.

Whenever i was really bad when i was a kid i got a smack and it worked. Physical violence usually works as a deterrant to bad behavior. Just look at the situation in schools now, teachers can not hardly even raise their voice at a kid for fear of the school being legally attacked by the parental units. In the days when canes would whistle and wooden board rubbers flew - did we have a majour country wide discipline problem? No.

If kids are to have rights. They must also inherit the responsibility that those rights demand. The responsibility for their own actions to be determined by a court of law, just like adults.

Butuz

[[GSV]Trig]

Where is the line between smacking and abuse?

Its a very fine line between discipline and child abuse..

In a world where were starting to go wrong, kids think there older than they are and get above there station, the law system is crap so they do something wrong they get away with it or get off lightly.

we should be clamping down not making it easier...

[Brooksy]

I dont think it should be banned, all i ever seem to see is hyper out of control kids and thier parents asking them nicely to stop whatever monsterous acts they're focused on.

[Proplus]

No way should smacking be bannedd, I'm Chinese, and had part of my childhood back in Hong Kong, and we received a hard hand whenever we got out of hand, it bought discipline into our lives. This is not only in our family, but also in schools as well.

And you know what? It should be done at an early age as well, to instill that discipling into the youngster, no point in doing it when they've reached their teens, it'll only make them more rebellious then.

[Zak33]

the voting is pretty determined to keep smacking....I'm all for keepng it.

My Mum hit me too hard once, but even if it had been illegal, I'd never have rung the Police over it.....the other few hundred times, I well and truly deserved it...my school friends who had lax parents are frankly, a disgrace to society now...and sadly..two of them are dead from coke and heoin That, to me, is the lack of discipline in their childhood lives.

[petrefax]

Where is the line between smacking and abuse?

it all depends on whether you wish to apply the same laws to minors as are afforded to adults

striking another adult constitutes assault, striking a child (at present) does not

that said, i do not agree with a ban since its counterproductive in my opinion, the sort of people who'd beat the living cr@p out of their kids for no reason are hardly likely to stop on account of a new law being passed, this would only penalise responsible parents who use smacking as a last resort

i would also like to add my vote to the "i had the odd clip as a kid & it did me no harm" camp....in fact i feel i am a better person for being kept in line by my parents & not allowed to run amok with no discipline at all

[Clingy]

I probably agree to the overwhelming consensus here. You all talk about how it did you good, but no one is saying how they discipline their kids???

I have never smacked my kids (14 & 15 now)....I've shouted at them and got angry with them. All too often a smack is the easy way out and is administered through anger and frustration rather than as a disiplinary action. Perhaps the generation running the world now was brought up with the view that violence is a means to control others? There are some parallels perhaps in todays world conflicts!

[spikegifted]

For every 'fcuked up' kid that resulted from smacking, 10 yobs/losers/whatever are produced because of the lack of it.

[Tom]

im for....same reason as everyone else

spike i think you got the stats wrong, its waaaaaaay more than 10 imo.

[Galant]

Wait, how's this, maybe we should all hand our children over to a government institution when they're weaned, then they can raise and discipline since the 'experts' always know how to do things better.

Annoys me it does.