(Untitled)

[girliebomb]

Poll Smacking Children

Personall, I think its up to the individual parent. Ofcourse I am against beating up your child, but I think a slight smack on the bum sometimes does help. Doesnt mean I am a child beater!

Comments

[seren]

I cant answer that. I guess they're wanting to take away the fine line between the odd smack and child abuse.. which I agree with.. and I hate the idea of smacking and like to think I wouldnt do it.
But I bet it wont stop people anyway, and we will be hearing about someone going to jail just for giving their kids a tap on the wrist soon :/

Re:

[girliebomb]

I was the same. I said I would never smack my child, but believe me, it happens, and sometimes it IS the only way to make your child behave.

I was smacked as a child, and it did me no harm, infact, I am glad my parents did it.

They did say on the news that people WILL NOT be arrested for smacking, so what do they plan to do? And do they really think they will be able to keep an eye on when and where its happening?

This is a stupid law......its impossible to monitor.

Re:

[seren]

totally. but i suppose if a parent does beat a kid senseless, then that will lead to a more severe punishment.. which is good.
i dont know if they will ever bring it in, theres lots of laws that they talk about all the time but never enforce.

[jeweleee]

I was smacked when I was younger, nothing too hard but occasionall enough to leave a handprint on the back of my leg, and enough to make me behave. I think I was only smacked a few times from the ages of say about 5 to 10, because I knew what would happen if I misbehaved. It worked on myself and my brother and as my parents say, we were great kids and they've brought us up well. I think discipline is important but as Celeste says, there's a fine like between discipline with a smack and child abuse.

[oblivious]

I think it's down to how well parents control their temper. I have been absolutely appalled at times when out shopping to see small children being hit repeatedly and then dragged along by one arm as their parents go mental, you know the kind of parents I mean, we've all seen it.

That's not discipline, that is just a parent losing their temper entirely, I can understand it's frustrating when your kids are playing up in public but they're just being kids for heaven's sake. I agree with smacking as discipline when a parent truly feels they're in control and aren't acting out of anger but I think it's dangerous if they are acting out of anger :/

[littlesue1971]

I agree with you. A kid needs a slight smack from time to time to keep them in line. Do they have new laws across the pond?

[jeweleee]

Yeah, there's a bit in the news about it here, Sue: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3015226.stm

[littlesue1971]

Thanks, sweetie.

[hayleyk]

I think this is a really tough one and extremely individual. Personally I think its ok to lightly tap a child on the bum, it helps to get the message across that doing bad stuff means you get hurt. I certainly don't mean go beat your child up for every small thing, but like you say, sometimes it helps.

I do wonder if some parents were tougher on their children whether there would be the all the 15 year old deliquents on the streets. No i'm not a fuddy duddy, i'm 24, but my mum gave me a small smack when I was bad and it didn't do me any harm whatsoever and I really think it helped me learn to behave myself, I was terrified that if I did anything naughty i'd get a slap!

[gorjuss]

you were terrified of your parents? see what I mean.
You didn't behave well because you were taught right from wrong...you behaved because you were scared.
thats wrong.

[hayleyk]

No I was terrified of the consequences, not my parents as such. I've always had a great relationship with my mum, and to this day she remains my closest confidante, so it certainly didn't harm me dit it?

[hayleyk]

And hang on a second, this was a poll of everyones thoughts and opinions, and whether you agree or not the fact remains its my opinion, that doesn't make it wrong.

[gorjuss]

I'm sorry, smacking is just wrong. No one deserves to be hit. If they're kids...they're learning things and are bound to make mistakes/do things wrong. They need to be taught, not hit.
Making eye contact works for my nephew who's 5.
I've never been smacked, and I have alot more respect for my mother because of it. If i did something wrong (eg. spilt a drink. lol great example), she just used to clean it up...these things happen...whereas other parents would hit their child and tell them its "naughty".
It will be hard to monitor, but maybe it will try and prevent parents from doing it because they know the government believe it's wrong? I dunno.