Would you hit someone else’s child?

If they were physically harming my child and nothing else has worked and my child was in danger/very distressed I’m not going to say I never would.

The only scenario I can even conceive in which an adult might hit a child is if they were attacking you personally/or if you were watching them beat up your kid. And even then, it would be a proportionate response to their size and age that is more likely to look like a push/holding their arms, rather than hitting.

And ofc I wouldn't hit a teacher. If there was a teacher who was a bully, I would report them. Again, I'd only hit in self defense or to physically protect my child from harm.

Obviously it wasn’t normal behaviour OP - your nan sounds like a fishwife.

our grandparent historically has battered parents over bullying and has also scragged a teacher or two. Most notably having a dinner lady by the throat in the canteen. Says it was normal back then and that’s how things were handled.

Nothing about this is normal in any normal place. Not sure why you are posting OP. Do you want us to tell you your parent/grandparent was violent - yeah they were. Do you want us to tell you it was all justified if the dinner lady said "no more beans" to their child - no it wasn't.

Seriously this thread can't be real - read what I quoted abov Who thinks this is normal? who needs to be told this wasn't normal back whenever?

Like what fucking time in the world or in the UK was is it considered reasonable and legal to take a dinner lady by the throat in the canteen.

Grow up.

One bully deliberately pushed me in front of a car which hit me and hospitalised me. This was after years of bullying, sexual assaults and trying to get the school or his parents to deal with it.

My dad waited for him after school, got him by the throat and roared at him that he'd had enough and if he ever touched, looked at or spoke to me again, he would kill him and anyone who tried to protect him. Bully pissed himself in fear and never bothered me again. Word got around that my dad was "mental" and my problems were solved overnight. No one touched me again. We were 15 at this point. So a teen, yeah, if it was justified, I can see why an adult might be tempted to give them a taste of their own medicine.

An actual child, no. No way. If parents want to smack their own kids as discipline, it's legal so that's up to them but you don't smack someone else's. I'd physically break up a fight if I had to and be none too gentle about it but that's as far as I'd go, personally.

If anyone was being physical with my child and not stopping when intervening in other ways, I would absolutely use force to stop them and if that meant hitting then so be it. The scenario I'm imagining is pushing them away with force, but it would be a last resort. So I guess only in self-defence if necessary, not as a retaliation.
If it was a case of none stop bullying and nobody was doing anything about it, to be honest I'm not sure what I would or wouldn't do. I wouldn't go and punch a teacher, but I'd probably tell my child to hit back. Occasionally in life I do think someone needs to get hurt / something bad needs to happen for people to actually do something about it, but that's a generalisation I'm making based on how little authorities seem to care these days when you go through the proper routes or don't kick up any fuss.

It’s never been ok to hit a teacher or another adult working at a school and while it clearly has happened in the past (and still happens now) there would be repercussions.

the parent could be banned from the school site (surprisingly frequent occurrence) and depending on what actually happened the parent could be charged with assault or similar.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/mar/04/school-leaders-england-wales-northern-ireland-say-parents-have-abused-them?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5419041-two-adults-cornered-and-scolded-my-7yo

I think its that one.

@CucumberCoolcan you or someone please link the post about a child being accosted at a party? I was at one yesterday when something possibly similar happened want to see if it’s that!

No, I don't hit people.

No.

No, i would never hit a child. I don't hit my own either.

If a teacher bullied my kid, I'd confront them and report.

Exactly this and its why I still feel so bad. Im an adult and hitting a small child is fucking terrible.

My own parents used to hit me when I was small but they would never raise a hand or voice to my children.

Ive hit my oldest but it was in shock and she'd kicked me in the face and I responded with slapping her foot and saying no!

I felt awful for ages so would never intentionally hit her or her sister or any kids.

It was just an automatic reaction and I wish it never happened. She doesn't even remember it.

No. I'd tell someone else's kid off if they was putting themselves or someone else in danger but I'd not hit them. Only teaches them it's alright to hit someone when they are doing something you don't like, after all if it's alright for someone bigger and stronger to hit them then surely it's alright for them to hit someone smaller and weaker and I'm sure this isn't the desired goal you'd want to achieve.

No I wouldn't hit anyone.

No because I am not an unintelligent animal, no offence to actual animals

Never hit my own children, Never hit my grandkids in my care for years before and after school, and would never hit another child for any reason (unless it was a kid coming after me with a knife or gun) There are other ways to handle behaviour issues.

Never acceptable to resort to hitting. Unless it's self defense after being attacked physically... Odd question. What's the context?

I yelled at an older kid, about 8y, who pushed my young dc out of a playhouse at the playground a few weeks ago.

No, it isn't normal to react like that, and I don't believe that was ever the way "things were done". They sound like menaces tbh.

Obviously I wouldn't hit anyone, but especially not a dc. That sort of aggression is never justified.

Hell no
That's how you get a record for gbh

Who harms animals too?

No, not unless you want to get a criminal record, or worse still, go to prison.

In answer to the OP, I would like to think wouldn’t hit anyone - child or adult, definitely not my own child - unless it was in self-defence or defence of someone else. I mean truly defending someone else, not retaliating or if there were other options.

I would definitely tear another adult off a strip verbally if it was warranted though, and I can’t totally rule out threatening the teacher in the racism example above!