Scotland and the Smacking Ban

[Pumperthepumper]

Absolutely delighted to see the news yesterday. Couldn’t see a thread about it but sorry if I’ve missed one. Will the rest of the UK follow, do you think?

It's food for thought. I personally think that the current English law is reasonable. Comparisons with hitting work colleagues are ludicrous.

I think it could create a 'don't touch me' approach and also a child being able to bully a parent by threats of going to the police. As others have mentioned, the genuine abuse will not be stopped.

How exactly are they going to enforce it ? I.don't agree with smacking but whose going to.know if a parent smack their child in their own home.?

Excellent.

It's the Gordion's knot solution to the grey between a smack and outright beating.

Fantastic news! I hope the rest of the UK catches up.

I remember being 10 years old and seeing the absurdity that my brother was smacked by my dad as punishment for hitting another child at school.

I got a clip round the ear for pointing out the hypocrisy.

I have never smacked my DC. They are grown up now (18 and 20) and have never laid a finger on each other or had a physical fight with anybody.

My brother and I were smacked regularly and spent most of our childhood beating the crap out of each other, and getting into fights at school.

I don't think it's a coincidence.

All smacking teaches children is that if somebody does something you don't like you hit them.
I can't believe anybody really thinks that's ok?

All of those saying well you're not allowed to beat your wife, colleagues etc, I dare say the courts would be more lenient if your wife or boss was furiously kicking you with their shoes on, pulling your hair or biting you when you lashed out.

Realistically, in such a case the parent wouldn't be prosecuted. But the fact is some parents just go and hit their kids for no real reason or because of their own mental health issues. I know this because it happened to me. Children should be protected by the law just like adults are.

It’s a great move, i hope we follow suit.

It’s not loving whatsoever to inflict pain on a defenceless child and income status also has nothing to do with it.

I did give him enough of a physical demonstration of what it feels like to be hit so that he could realise how it feels.

Why? If he didn’t understand that he wasn’t to hurt you, why would he understand that you’re allowed to hurt him? Surely that confuses the message more - SOMETIMES I can hit you but you must never hit me. Where’s the logic?

Unless you’re saying you hit him for revenge, I can’t understand why you thought this would work. Did you hit him hard enough to leave a scar too, in this tat-for-tat?

Again how is it going to be enforced?They can bring in all the laws they want but who.would monitor it?

@x2boys this has already been discussed in the thread - it’s not actually a ban on smacking, it’s a removal of the ‘justifiable assault’ clause that only existed for children. So physical assaults on children are now a criminal offence. So in reality if a smacking case goes to court the parent can no longer use ‘justifiable assault’ as an excuse - and hopefully it will also change attitudes to smacking and physical chastisement because it’s now no longer ‘frowned upon’ but ‘actually illegal’.

It could easily be enforced if children know it’s illegal for an adult to hurt them physically. All they would need to do is report to a teacher and SS could be called or have a free phone number for older children. Under school age it’s harder and you would have to rely on close friends and relatives to do the reporting on behalf of the child.

@pamperramper why is it ludicrous? If your own small children can push you to violence why can’t your colleagues?

All they would need to do is report to a teacher and SS could be called
And how many false reports do you think there’ll be? I remember being at primary school and threatening to call Childline on my parents! Kids will make reports with no understanding of the serious consequences that could result. Not to mention the extra burden on SS for minor incidents and kids potentially being taken away from their perfectly good families just because of a smack.

I would vote YABU if the button appeared.
Unhelpful to criminalise this.

I'm sure some men made those sorts of arguments when they were no longer allowed to hit their wives tbh.

How can you compare the relationship with ones small children with the relationship with adult work colleagues? You live with your small children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You are wholly responsible for them. It is your job to teach them, including disciplining them, and they don't understand anything initially. How does that compare with an annoying colleague? If a colleague behaves badly, I report them to management. If they refuse to alter their behaviour, management dismisses them. Worst case scenario, I can resign from that workplace.

This will damage families.It is unrealistic. And it doesn't come with any offer of any training or support for parents.

And it appears that most Scots are against it.

I agree with the view that it removes the grey area which can only be a good thing. One person's "tap" could be seen as something else entirely by someone else.

My dad was outraged at this ban as "smacking isn't assault" and "there is a difference between a smack and beating your kids"

He took his belt to us as kids so clearly he doesn't see the 'line' in quite the same place as I (and others) do.

I do not hit my child. To this day she has never run into a road, touched a gas hob or any of the other usual excuses people use. She is also better behaved than children I know to be hit. No smacking doesn't = no discipline.

It is your job to teach them, including disciplining them, and they don't understand anything initially.

So why assault them if they don’t understand anything? What do your children do that is so bad it warrants them being physically punished? Some of my colleagues were total arseholes, one of them made a lazy error of judgement which cost the company a fortune to put right - he wasn’t hit for it. It’s interesting that your work have procedures in place to avoid physical chastisement - that’s what most parents do too! You’re talking as if it’s impossible to parent your children without being aggressive. It isn’t!

I think the key point is what a pp said above - children will have the same protection against assault as adults.

Generally we slap when we've lost our temper, so obviously that's wrong.

Slapping in cold blood is obviously assault.

You should not be scared of your parents.

On the other hand, I can't help thinking that a quick slap is a lot less damaging than some sort of emotional punishment like eg saying you won't take them to the swings the next day.

But it's obvious hitting children is wrong.

I am so pleased with this decision but it frightened me to my very core reading the comments to the BBC article on Facebook. It was basically 10% in favour of the new law and 90% against it and pro smacking.
As to whether it will help, probably not. Smoking in the car where there are minors present is illegal but I still see it every day. Some people are just going to do it anyway.

I had a pretty glorious childhood. But I sure wish smacking was banned then. To all the wonderful parents who only smack when their child is in danger, great. And no. It won't stop extreme physical abuse. Those people will continue. But to people like me who got smacked for not saying thank you loud enough so it was missed. (disciplining bad manners) Or forgot to tidy their toys and left a mess. (teaching me to remember to be responsible) Or argued with their siblings sometimes (teaching me not to raise my voice). I wish the law had been there for me because I learned nothing except that my dad had big, strong hands.

And it appears that most Scots are against it.

Got any data to back that up? What polls are you referring to?

Always the same handful of weak arguments on these threads.

1. Never did me any harm
2. But what about when they run into the road /touch a hot stove (ALWAYS those exact two scenarios)
3. Kids these days, no respect blah blah

Just come out and say it. Be honest. You'd like to carry on being able to hurt and humiliate your children. Or you think other people should be allowed to hurt and humiliate their children. When you get to the heart of it, that is the only reason anyone has for opposing the ban.