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Good times, pre-coffee and someone is sending me today’s Facebook poll; Do you think spanking your child is abuse?
It amazes me that in the year 2009, we are still slogging away debating whether it is ‘acceptable’ to assault our children. I also am a little horrified to see anti-spanking trumpeted as the cause of all the world’s ills. “More and more people choose not to spank their child and is leading to the crimes today because parents are scared of getting in trouble for spanking” It’s got to be a bit short sighted to think corporal punishment and humiliation of our most vulnerable citizens is going to reduce crime trends. It is also troubling that we seem unable to view children as distinct human beings, entitled to equal rights and protections under law.
In 1979, Switzerland led the way forward by introducing an anti-spanking law. Finland, Norway and Austria followed within the next ten years. In a Global Initiative to End all Corporal Punishment Against Children, we now have over 25 countries (Nov 2009 stats) which have abolished spanking as ‘reasonable discipline strategy’. For a good look at what is happening with these initiatives, have a look at this Global Update.
We would not think it was acceptable to turn our boss around and repeatedly strike his backside with our hand [spank] if he was doing something we did not agree with. We would not grab a belt and strike our partner about her buttocks and thighs [spank] because she made us angry. And we all know that if we pull a stranger on the street over our knee and hit them with reasonable force [spank], the courts will view it as an assault.
I generally do not believe that parents wake up in the morning, wondering ‘what is the best way to screw up my kid today’? I don’t think the majority of parents want to hurt their children. I also don’t believe spanking is an acceptable discipline strategy and it worries me that when we are talking about ‘teaching’ children, spanking is the best we can come up with. There is plenty of research, plenty of evidence to support that spanking is not a solution to raising healthy, happy, socially adjusted children. It really is up to each of us to educate ourselves, stretch our resources and come up with better ways.
Fiona - www.wrongside.info
