Parents smacking children to be banned in Scotland .....

Smacking never did me any harm. It was never very hard..like just a slap on the bum. It wasnt painful or anything but made you step back in line because of the shock. Thats how I remember it as a little kid
I dont see anything wrong with it really. It does make some children who just wont listen behave

Personally I think its extremely poor parenting method though. there are so many better ways to make children listen to you without resorting to physically hitting them. Using firm words and tone of voice will garner much better long term respect from a child.

Maximilian Lively Sharkskin wrote: »

I got a smack when I deserved it as a child and I'd have no issue doing the same if I have kids in the future. No harm at all and an awful of little s*its now a days could do with a good smack.

Yeh tbh ..Generally Im against parents hitting children but honestly seeing some of the entitled selfish insolent disrespectful little brats out in public is terrible..just thinking about how obnoixous their generation is going to be when grown up. Id rather violence in the household than adults with that self indulgent mentality ruling society:eek:

My ma was the Peter Stringer of the wooden spoon.... you'd duck and dodge and just as you thought you were away past you'd get this stinging whack on the back of the calve... aaaaargh!

I wasn't smacked growing up...I don't smack my kids.

As a kid I remember seeing a man holding his small child with their arm aloft and smacking them so hard their feet lifted off the ground while chanting "Do NOT hit your brother - we do not use violence" and looking up at my dad completely confused.

There are plenty of ways of imposing consequences without assaulting someone a fraction of your strength and size and trying to coerce them out of fear. Lazy parenting imo...

weldoninhio wrote: »

Isn't it just a form of aversion therapy. Bold=smack. Good=no smack. Its behavior forming and also teaches children about actions and consequences.

Sure, so you are teaching them that the consequence of not resolving a dispute is violence. Not really a lesson to be teaching them. We all want to teach children about consequences. We are agreed there. It is WHICH consequences that is what the debate would be about.

I will take (as I remember it) the post from another user some time ago on boards.ie about how he dealt with teeth brushing with his kids. It was on a thread a parent started that their child would not brush their teeth right.

One resolution of that is smack your child upside the head as hard as it takes until the child consents to brush properly. Sure that is "consequences" but what is it teaching the child to do? To do the right thing for fear of violence? What about teaching them to do the right thing because it IS the right thing to do?

The other resolution as the user I am paraphrasing offered it was that he stood with his children brushing with them and if they refused to do it right he basically kept gently admonishing them until brushing time was over. Then he let it go without a fuss or direct discipline or repercussions.

The next day however they asked for sweets and stuff and he basically said "I would like to give you sweets but as you are refusing to deal with teeth brushing correctly, I can not in good conscience give you any as it would be the wrong thing for me to do knowing the harm it will cause your teeth". So it was a kind of Tom Cruise "Help me! To help you!" speech.

The children went off sadly without sweets and pondered this. Damn sure they then stepped up their game at the next teeth brushing.

So they learned consequences too. But they learned that to get what they want from others they must cooperate and offer the same in return. They learned the concept of doing what is right BECAUSE it is right (the father was refusing them sweets because the protection of their teeth was the right thing to do) and the situation was ultimately resolved.

Were you smacked as a child? and would you as a parent smack your own children, or are there other ways to control naughty behaviour?

yep and I deserved it and I fully understood why. The whole ' you can't smack your child' attitude is the softie softie approach the current psychologist force on parent. with as a result that many youngsters I encounter are such spoilt brats that expect everything and do nothing. Demanding and deserving. Lazy in many cases and disrespectful. And the next time some little punk is disrespectful to me I shall transgress and give him a smack around his or her ears.There is a HUGE difference between giving your child a slap around their ears for a very obvious transgression and being abusive.

Akrasia wrote:

We only banned it here a few years ago, but it has been culturally unacceptable for a lot longer

We only made it illegal to smack a child in the home on December 12th last year :O

The amount of people on here referring to a slap as violence is hilarious.

I was hit twice, once by my mam and once by my dad. They both felt horrible after and hugged me and apologised. My dad had just lost his temper and lashed out. It was really out of character, my mam was a shouter so I was used to her being the disciplinarian but my dad was so gentle it completely shocked me.

I won't be ever hitting my kids, I really think it has no place in society today.

I don't think anybody is advocating children getting beaten up here, but I wonder if there's any correlation between the reduction in corrective corporal punishment and the rise in anti-social behaviour?

Maximilian Lively Sharkskin wrote: »

Nonsense, a bit of a smack is not violence. The nanny state PC bull is really getting ingrained in some people.

Smack an adult walking down the street and you’ll find yourself facing an assault charge.

But smacking a defenseless child. Grand, yeah?

Maximilian Lively Sharkskin wrote: »

Kids wouldnt be half as cheeky if they knew a smack on the arse was the result of their acting up.

Advocating the sexual assault of a child?

Stay classy.