Illegal to slap a child

BattleCorp

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/ban-on-smacking-children-came-into-force-at-midnight-1.2461969

What a dumbass law.

It doesn't do any harm to give a child a little smack if they are bold. I'm not talking about caving in their jaw with a box, but that defense of reasonable chastisement was a good enough law.

Why change it?

Stupid in my opinion.

Lights On

Doesn't say anything about giving them roundhouse kicks though

AnonoBoy

I used to love slapping reasonably chastising people's kids.

What am I supposed to do for fun now?

King George VI

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I used to love slapping reasonably chastising people's kids.

What am I supposed to do for fun now?

Crack

Hammer89

I wouldn't smack my child, if and when I have one, but that's just a preference. My da smacked me on the arse when I was little over what was proven to be a false allegation and to this day I'm a little frightened of him. I'd be broken up forever if anyone I loved - children or otherwise - were afraid of me.

AnonoBoy

Johnny Carson wrote: »

Crack

Way ahead of you there.

DivingDuck

Parents slapping their offspring is the child-sized version of a court handing down a punishment of fifty lashes for an adult, so this is a very positive change by my account.

lukesmom

I thinks it's ridiculous. I have smacked my 3 year old boys bum on a few occasions. He is a pup at times.

Nodin

Lights On wrote: »

Doesn't say anything about giving them roundhouse kicks though

Or clatters. Clatters are not mentioned.

AnonoBoy

Nodin wrote: »

Or clatters. Clatters are not mentioned.

Ah clatters..... Who remembers Clatters? Aye - they were something weren't they? Get a clatter on a Saturday and the off to the chippie for fish and chips - with loadsa vinegar - they don't do vinegar like they used to. Who remembers the old vinegar they used to have before the modern muck came in. Muck? Who remembers muck - proper muck mind - not this modern muck they have these days.

The_Valeyard

Nodin wrote: »

Or clatters. Clatters are not mentioned.

Electric cattle prod?

ElChe32

I can still push them down a flight of stairs though right?

Peregrine

BattleCorp wrote: »

It doesn't do any harm to give a child a little smack if they are bold. I'm not talking about caving in their jaw with a box, but that defense of reasonable chastisement was a good enough law.

It wouldn't do any harm to give you a little smack if you are bold so why aren't people doing it? You'd hit back.

The child, of course, is defenceless and is fair game for little smacks according to you.

SEPT 23 1989

Chinese burns are still on the menu though?

SEPT 23 1989

.

Nodin

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Electric cattle prod?

Techno hipster band from Portadown?

Penny Tration

Peregrine wrote: »

It wouldn't do any harm to give you a little smack if you are bold so why aren't people doing it? You'd hit back.

The child, of course, is defenceless and is fair game for little smacks according to you.

This.

Why hit a child and not an adult? Because adults can fight back.

It's not about teaching a kid manners, because plenty of adults have no manners and you wouldn't dare slap them to teach them some because they'd punch you right back.

If you have to resort to hitting a kid, your temper has gotten the better of you. All it teaches a child is that if mammy or daddy is angry, they'll hurt me.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

DivingDuck

Peregrine wrote: »

It wouldn't do any harm to give you a little smack if you are bold so why aren't people doing it? You'd hit back.

The child, of course, is defenceless and is fair game for little smacks according to you.

To be fair, it's more than fear of retaliation for a lot of people, it's that they feel they "own" their child in a way they don't an adult stranger.

In their view, that makes it better. In my view, it makes absolutely no difference.

Skylinehead

BattleCorp wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/ban-on-smacking-children-came-into-force-at-midnight-1.2461969

What a dumbass law.

It doesn't do any harm to give a child a little smack if they are bold. I'm not talking about caving in their jaw with a box, but that defense of reasonable chastisement was a good enough law.

Why change it?

Stupid in my opinion.

If you have to resort to violence against someone smaller than you who can't fight back, you're a bad parent.

Kimbot

Wooden Spoon and belts and mentioned so its all good :P

eamonnq

If they still misbehave after you smack them, do you smack them harder.............and on and on ?

Subcomandante Marcos

Parents who resort to smacking their kids have basically admitted they aren't able to control a toddler through communication and logic and have to resort to violence or the threat thereof.

Magico Gonzalez

I can still hear my ma telling me she would "warm the back of my legs" i was wasn't careful.

The Backwards Man

Threaten the wee bastards with a day footing turf, that'll make them behave themselves

Saadyst

My mother used to beat the everliving shít out of me, as well as my father the odd time, and even my uncle gave me a few smacks when he lived with us for a while.

I don't think I owe anything positive about the way I am now, to those beatings/smacks. I am the way I am now, thanks to me, not thanks to those events.

Hermy

BattleCorp wrote: »

It doesn't do any harm to give a child a little smack if they are bold.

How do you know?

valoren

OK Little Johnny, I see that you have smeared your faeces all over the bathroom wall again.
Let's meet for a coffee and discuss the inappropriateness of what you have done.

:pac:

There are alternatives to smacking. If the child likes to play games on your phone for example, then them smearing ****e all over the jacks should result in no phone for a week. The trick is to see the punishment out.

Nodin

valoren wrote: »

OK Little Johnny, I see that you have smeared your faeces all over the bathroom wall again.
Let's meet for a coffee and discuss the inappropriateness of what you have done.

:pac:

There are alternatives to smacking. If the child likes to play games on your phone for example, then them smearing ****e all over the jacks should result in no phone for a week. The trick is to see the punishment out.

I see parenthood has been difficult for ye.

Lux23

A parent won't be prosecuted for giving their child a slap, people need to stop being so hysterical about this. But what will happen is that parents who beat/harm their child won't be able to use the defence of reasonable chastisement any more. Parents are getting away with GBH because its hard to prosecute with that defence in place.

BattleCorp

Lux23 wrote: »

A parent won't be prosecuted for giving their child a slap, people need to stop being so hysterical about this. But what will happen is that parents who beat/harm their child won't be able to use the defence of reasonable chastisement any more. Parents are getting away with GBH because its hard to prosecute with that defence in place.

Why won't a parent be prosecuted for giving their child a slap?

The law says you can't hit a child at all. It doesn't say how hard you can hit a child.

There will be stupid prosecutions.

KERSPLAT!

I got a few slaps when I was young and as far as I know it had no ill effects on me but saying that, I won't be using it as a disciplinary tool on my young lad.

Gazzmonkey

So you can't physically hit them at all now...

Then I guess the only means of punishment left is starvation and been locked in cold rooms all day.

AlanG

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Parents who resort to smacking their kids have basically admitted they aren't able to control a toddler through communication and logic and have to resort to violence or the threat thereof.

There are times when no one can control a toddler through logic. Examples would be when they persistently open their safety belt while in a car or when they run out in front of traffic. Parents are responsible for the safety of their children and logic is not always safest. How would you deal with a child repeatedly opening their siblings seat belts while driving on a motorway?

hdowney

I too am of the opinion that a child doesn't need a smack for discipline. If you start teaching your child right from wrong early, positive reinforcement for good behaviours and appropriate punishment for misbehaviour ( such as the above no phone for a week) you should never have to resort to smacking. If you do then I think the parent needs to take a long hard look at their parenting style

osarusan

'A few slaps never did me any harm' ≠ a few slaps won't do anybody any harm.

Yakuza

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Parents who resort to smacking their kids have basically admitted they aren't able to control a toddler through communication and logic and have to resort to violence or the threat thereof.

Toddlers and communication / logic in the same sentence...?
How many toddlers have you tried this on? How successful were you?

Sheeps

smacking wouldnt happen if only the children had guns. we need the second amendment of the u.s constitution in ireland

topper75

The cultural Marxists see children as perfectly rational pint-sized adults who should be cocooned.

We are making a very soft, entitled society here in Ireland.

Not a problem in and of itself. But there are other societies out there that are not so.

They, in time, will walk all over us.

The selfish part of me, knowing that I won't be around to suffer it, doesn't really care.

seamus

Yakuza wrote: »

Toddlers and communication / logic in the same sentence...?
How many toddlers have you tried this on? How successful were you?

Toddler logic doesn't mean, "Let's work this out over a cup of coffee", it means "there's no way in hell you're getting any ice cream if you don't sit down, now."

No, it doesn't always work, but I don't think smacking a toddler mid-tantrum is going to do any more than change the focus of their aggression.

What I always love about the, "smacking never did me any harm" brigade is that they can remember getting smacked, but they usually don't remember why.

That means you didn't actually learn anything at all. And it's telling that you remember the smack but not the lesson.

FatherTed

BattleCorp wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/ban-on-smacking-children-came-into-force-at-midnight-1.2461969

What a dumbass law.

It doesn't do any harm to give a child a little smack if they are bold. I'm not talking about caving in their jaw with a box, but that defense of reasonable chastisement was a good enough law.

Why change it?

Stupid in my opinion.

Can I slap YOU because you don't agree with what I say? A little slap wouldn't harm you a bit, right?

The Randy Riverbeast

Can't you just get another child to beat the other?

I don't understand how when a child is unable to understand something is wrong, a slap will make them realise that the action they were doing was wrong. If they can't understand something is wrong then hitting them won't help, if they can then there are other methods.

lukesmom

draiochtanois wrote: »

If he is badly behaved lukesmom is to blame not luke ...

Blah blah blah

smash

The Randy Riverbeast wrote: »

If they can't understand something is wrong then hitting them won't help, if they can then there are other methods.

Rub their nose in it!

lukesmom

My 3 year old boy does not care if I take a toy off him or not let him have ice cream etc. He acts like a complete brat and I've tried all the other methods. The only thing that stops him behaving like an absolute pup is a slap on the a*se.
Then he becomes an angel again!

Sheeps

lukesmom wrote: »

My 3 year old boy does not care if I take a toy off him or not let him have ice cream etc. He acts like a complete brat and I've tried all the other methods. The only thing that stops him behaving like an absolute pup is a slap on the a*se.

you need to break him down and pick him apart with psychological torture then build him up again with discipline. take apart his favourite toy and let him figure out putting it together with one piece remaining flush it down the toilet. murder his pets. run in to his room at night with a chain saw and mask screaming. that kind of thing

Hermy

seamus wrote: »

What I always love about the, "smacking never did me any harm" brigade is that they can remember getting smacked, but they usually don't remember why.

I well remember why my first class primary teacher - real nasty man, ex-christian brother I later learned - slapped me repeatedly one day.
It was because I had stopped to tie my shoe laces and thus delayed proceedings in class by a few seconds.
Bizarrely this was the same teacher who taught us how to tie our shoelaces.
I challenge anyone to explain what lesson I was supposed to learn from that experience (aside for utter contempt for that meagre excuse for a human being).

Jawgap

BattleCorp wrote: »

Why won't a parent be prosecuted for giving their child a slap?

The law says you can't hit a child at all. It doesn't say how hard you can hit a child.

There will be stupid prosecutions.

Actually it doesn't - you can still claim self-defence in that you only used enough force to deter the kid when he came at you with a lego gun!

Honestly, these things make me laugh - the state is responsible for killing more kids than any parent, but somehow they are going to tell us how to parent :rolleyes:

And for info - I don't and never have hit my kids, I have more imagination when it comes to correcting behaviour!

Shermanator

I got plenty of slaps when I was a kid. I got slapped by my Mom & Dad, I got the stick from my teachers in primary school and got the leather from my teachers in secondary school. I was in 5th year before corporal punishment was banned in schools. However, in my eight years in primary school I was only hit by two teachers, I still remember both of them more by the type of stick they used than anything else. Same thing in secondary school, I remember the teachers by the type of cover they had for their leathers.

this is always going to be a difficult one to call because there will always be people who will take it to extremes. Some parents will slap as a first resort and will always take it too far. Some parents will just beat around the bush and not instill any discipline at all.
In order to protect the vulnerable from the extremes it is necessary to legislate against slapping and this will be hard for the average parent to accept as they often feel a small tap or smack will work where other methods wont.
However, if you have ever witnessed an adult dishing out an extreme "beating" to a small child you would now be in favor of this legislation because its not something you would want to witness again.
Many years ago, I saw a woman (presumably the mother) walking along a foothpath with a small child. The child was on a small bike with stabilizers and was doing grand until they came to a set of steps up to the shopping centre (a dozen steps). The mother lost her rag with the child because he couldn't carry his bike up the steps and she gave him an unmerciful beating (and no, I did not stop and intervene, it was a long time ago and I was a lot younger). Now this woman clearly knew she would encounter these steps and that the child would not be able to get the bike up to the shops. so who was at fault here ? If this legislation had been in place at the time, perhaps she would not have beat him.

Unfortunately, kids will still be beaten behind closed doors and there is no legislation in the world that will change that.

Hermy

Shermanator wrote: »

...I was in 5th year before corporal punishment was banned in schools...

When was corporal punishment banned in schools?

lukesmom

Hermy wrote: »

When was corporal punishment banned in schools?

1982