Outright Ban on Corporal Punishment

[Lightworker]

Hi all! Was wondering what your thoughts are on an the banning of corporal punishment is. The Convention on the Rights of the Child states children should be protected from physical injury and many European countries have prohibited it but the UK has not. Im pretty sure that neither Africa nor the US(it hasn't ratified the convention) has either. So whatdya think?

 

[freckleonear]

No I don't think it should be banned. Whilst I don't believe that smacking is a useful discipline tool and there are much better methods, there are parents who honestly believe that smacking is a good approach to discipline. I know plenty of people like this and they are very good parents overall. Unless it is clearly harming children, the government shouldn't interfere in parenting choices. Existing legislation already protects children against any kind of hitting that leaves a mark, so smacking when done properly should not cause any physical injury. I think state interference with parenting choices is a slippery slope which could eventually lead to restrictions on how we parent our children and limit the freedom to make our own decisions about what is best for them.

 

[Lightworker]

You said "unless it is clearly harming the child" - but all types of smacking harms the child and the main purpose of smacking is to deter the child by inflicting the pain so they learn. If it didn't hurt, it would be pointless right? I am not implying that people are bad parents for smacking etc but it seems abit hypocritical that we are allowed to hurt our children, when we are not allowed to hurt anyone else.

 

[Blah11]

I think there are much better ways to discipline children. Hitting has no place in todays soceity IMO. How can we teach our children to not hit others when we do it to them?

 

[freckleonear]

You said "unless it is clearly harming the child" - but all types of smacking harms the child and the main purpose of smacking is to deter the child by inflicting the pain so they learn. If it didn't hurt, it would be pointless right? I am not implying that people are bad parents for smacking etc but it seems abit hypocritical that we are allowed to hurt our children, when we are not allowed to hurt anyone else.

It never harmed me or my brother. My parents smacked us because they loved us and honestly believed that was the best thing to do. I'm not saying they were right (I think there are much better ways to discipline and choose to use other methods instead) but they did it with good intentions and I don't see any need for a law interfering with how parents like them choose to discipline. Obviously some parents don't have such loving intentions, but existing legislation protects children fairly well from actual harm. I think an outright ban would probably make it harder to target abuse because parents would be more careful to do it behind closed doors.

I completely agree that it is hypocritical and confusing for young children though.

 

[future_numan]

Who ( Government)has the right to tell everyone on how to raise their children..
Lots of people were spanked as children and were raised to fear authority and didn't grow up to become serial-killers..

I for one don't support spanking but I won't tell someelse not too if that's their parenting choice..

 

[lily123]

I personally think that it should be banned.
there are much more effective ways to discipline your child than inflicting pain on them.
Me and my brothers were smacked as children (although my mum didn't know at the time) and it just made us scared of our Dad, and grow up to resent him. Sometimes i still flinch when he comes near me. I don't want that for my daughter.

This is just my personal opinion and experience, i do realise that this does not happen to all children who were spanked, but again, just my personal thoughts.

 

[hopeandpray]

Some people hit their children because they think it will help them, but some I know begin doing it this way and sometimes end up doing it because they are angry. I don't think I would ever hit my child unless it was in a case like they were very young and were doing something dangerous which I could only scare them out of doing by smacking them. I would never hit an adult so don't see why it's okay to hit a child, either they are old enough to be verbally reasoned with or if not then they are not old enough to understand they are doing wrong and don't deserve to be hit.
I would have it banned. I don't think that people should fear authority, they should respect it. I think that since adults have a right not to be hit children should get that right too

 

[Lightworker]

Yeah thats my feeling as well. People tend to link fear with respect which is why they use smacking.