To Smack Or Not To Smack
July 28, 2009 by Christine Gooding
Filed under Parenting
Should a smack, as part of good parental correction, be a criminal offence? Kiwis around New Zealand (like me!) are heading to the polls to decide on the fate of this anti-smacking law.
Image: PhotoXpress
Paul Taylor of Voxy says
Well, if you want to fill the jails around the country with good parents then answer yes, it should be a criminal offence to smack as part of good parental correction. Answer no if you want to keep the jails full of real criminals like rapists and murderers.
This is such a controversial law here in New Zealand but adults like me must vote on its future.
There are ways to raise kids without smacking. Scoop provides some good tips from reputable individuals.
What about you? Do you think it’s all right to smack our children as part of disciplining them?
There is a huge difference from smacking your child and beating him and most parents know this. If you take away that right, you will have children calling the police on you for raising your voice because you told him/her to clean their room ten times and were ignored. In my humble opinion, you’d have a generation of rude, hateful, uncontrolled children who you’d be afraid to take into public with you. My daughter is 20 and I can count on one hand the times I had to smack her while she was growing up, and it was only when she did something that scared me, like running toward the road when she a little girl. Parents need that option, not for giving their children pain, but for giving them guidance when nothing else will work.
I think smacking is fine here and there — like Tamara said, there’s a big difference between smacking and beating.