Smacking children, will it soon to be outlawed completely in the UK, and should it?

At the moment there are loopholes, parents can use discipline that may include 'reasonable' smacking.
Should this law be amended so in future no parent may hit, slap, tap their child under any circumstances?
Wales are set to follow Ireland and  introduce the no smacking under any circumstances law, should England follow suit?


"Sixty countries already have full bans, including Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Germany and Portugal, and it is time to make violence against children illegal in the UK in all settings, including the home."

https://www.bbc.com/news/education-45483347

nicko wrote:Every parent should have a big heavy cane to hand, and a cat-o-ninetails to thrash some discipline into the little buggers !

Lol....were you smacked as a child Nicko? I can only remember my mum smacking me once when I ran into the road, and I think that was done more out of panic than anger.

I smacked my own son a handful of times as a last resort....never smacked my grandson once, bribery worked with him.

gelico wrote:

Syl wrote:At the moment there are loopholes, parents can use discipline that may include 'reasonable' smacking.
Should this law be amended so in future no parent may hit, slap, tap their child under any circumstances?
Wales are set to follow Ireland and  introduce the no smacking under any circumstances law, should England follow suit?


"Sixty countries already have full bans, including Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Germany and Portugal, and it is time to make violence against children illegal in the UK in all settings, including the home."

https://www.bbc.com/news/education-45483347

't

my hubby used to get caned regularly at school, as did his friends.  didn't stop them messing about though

hubby used to wind up the teacher and say things like ''ooh can you do me first sir, while you still have plenty of energy?  don't do Rob, he wears 3 pairs of pants, go on sir, do me, i haven't got any pants on today''

strangely he got on really well with the headmaster no matter how many times he caned him.  in his final year he used to mosey on down to the heads office just for a  chat - he had a lot of liking and respect for his headmaster

not sure on this one tbh - i would like to see it banned as it shouldnt be necessary

In schools there was no place for hitting kids imo, we had a couple of decidedly odd teachers who enjoyed that task.....I was glad when corporal punishment in schools was outlawed.

Re your OH at school.....men are strange creatures. They can respect someone who has physically hurt them a lot easier than most females can. I was caned once and I hated that teacher....she ended up committing suicide and blamed our class, which was a lie and a horrible thing to do.

Men/boys can also batter the hell out of each other then become best mates, women/girls would probably hold a grudge for life.

I don't agree with beating a child or even hitting a child
there is a difference between that and a slap which is more of a sharp shock, with my parents or anyone I knew it was a last resort, rarely used and not without me ignoring a number of warnings to behave, I can only remember once or twice. You can't smack a baby of course and you get to an age where a child is too old for that and grounding will be a worse punishment. My father never slapped me, my mother usually only had to give me a certain look, especially when out to rein me in. I wasn't a particularly naughty child, I was born to be on the straight and narrow, if there was need I'd be sent to bed or at least to my bedroom.
I don't know about other countries but the behaviour of children and young adults seems to have got generally worse as discipline of any kind has diminished.

I raised my daughters with no corporeal punishment whatsoever. One is a lawyer, with a successful family of her own, the other is a physician with a successful family of her own.

So I reckon it wasn't necessary.

nicko wrote:Syl,   Dad would never raise a hand to me,   he was 6ft 6inchs and 15 stone of muscle, he used to say "if I hit you you'll know it !  Mom was 5ft 4inches and had a good slap.
I loved them both .

I think in many households a generation or two ago it was usually mum who did the slapping.....and it was accepted then as a part of normal family life to keep the kids in order.

Where I grew up it wasnt unusual for a neighbour to give someone elses kid a slap if they were cheeky or naughty.....I cant see that going down too well nowadays.

At my age, I'd welcome a slap for being disgustingly naughty. At least it would prove that someone might think that I had been capable of doing something worth it.

Vintage wrote:I don't agree with beating a child or even hitting a child
there is a difference between that and a slap which is more of a sharp shock, with my parents or anyone I knew it was a last resort, rarely used and not without me ignoring a number of warnings to behave, I can only remember once or twice. You can't smack a baby of course and you get to an age where a child is too old for that and grounding will be a worse punishment. My father never slapped me, my mother usually only had to give me a certain look, especially when out to rein me in. I wasn't a particularly naughty child, I was born to be on the straight and narrow, if there was need I'd be sent to bed or at least to my bedroom.  
I don't know about other countries but the behaviour of children and young adults seems to have got  generally worse as discipline of any kind has diminished.

I slapped my son as a last resort, only a very few times, so few I can remember where we were and why.
Once in Spain he was ruining a family holiday, being really sulky and cheeky, one day (in the train station waiting to go to Soller) he pushed me so far I slapped his face....not that hard but it shocked him (and me) from then on his attitude changed and we had a great holiday.
He was about 14 then and it was the first and only time I slapped his face.....I felt bad about it, but it worked.

He doesnt even remember it but I do.

Original Quill wrote:I raised my daughters with no corporeal punishment whatsoever.  One is a lawyer, with a successful family of her own, the other is a physician with a successful family of her own.

So I reckon it wasn't necessary.

Good for you and them Quill. I never had a daughter....you are blessed. x

Fred Moletrousers wrote:At my age, I'd welcome a slap for being disgustingly naughty. At least it would prove that someone might think that I had been capable of doing something worth it.

Cant you think of something really bad to do Fred....just use your imagination.

Syl wrote:

Fred Moletrousers wrote:At my age, I'd welcome a slap for being disgustingly naughty. At least it would prove that someone might think that I had been capable of doing something worth it.

Cant you think of something really bad to do Fred....just use your imagination.

Well I did once describe the President of the local Women's Institute of having a nice arse......

Fred Moletrousers wrote:

Syl wrote:

Cant you think of something really bad to do Fred....just use your imagination.

Well I did once describe the President of the local Women's Institute of having a nice arse......

Next time say it to her OH....you might get a good slap then

Syl wrote:

Fred Moletrousers wrote:

Well I did once describe the President of the local Women's Institute of having a nice arse......

Next time say it to her OH....you might get a good slap then

Since she's widowed and the new lady in my life, that's now somewhat unlikely.

Oh, I don't know though.................

Haha....well it worked...good for you.

Actually, as compliments go thats a very nice one. I doubt many women wouldnt be secretly pleased.