French parents’ physical punishment of kids

[Rainallnight]

I’m on holiday in France. Day 2. Yesterday saw two different parents smacking their kids, one on the face.

Today, on the beach, saw a dad kick his child, and then pick him up and throw him to the ground.

I was horrified. And no, I didn’t intervene. I was on my own with DC, and didn’t think my French would carry me through the conversation. I also didn’t want to make it worse. But I’m so worried about that little boy.

What on Earth is going on? I’ve been to France lots of times before and never seen anything like this.

You made me think of this story about the French tourist arrested in Edinburgh. I didn’t realise it was so long ago!

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1597353.stm

I see ‘French children are better behaved’ said so often.
In public yes, probably.

I went to a rural school in France as an English kid, and my classmates were well behaved in lessons (teachers were physical ) but pretty feral outside.
My brother and I also both experienced a lot of xenophobia, but I guess that’s not bad behaviour (but not perfect either!)

I’ve got three boys 16-22. We operated a “no smacking” policy for their childhood. All three are polite, well mannered young adults.

I was dreading the teenage years but none of them caused any issues. They don’t smoke, drink and weren’t prematurely sexually active.

smacking is utterly unnecessary and lazy parenting.

If you're a lazy parent anyway, smacking is better than nothing.

Don't see the issue if the child was misbehaving, the smack was proportionate and "reasonable chastisement" was used.

On a beach near Nice recently and a toddler was screaming about getting water on his face. A man - I assume his father - took off his nappy and absolutely walloped him. A woman sitting nearby intervened and he stopped. The child was inconsolable. I think physical chastisement is much more common and probably socially acceptable than in other countries.

There are a few non British comedians on Instagram and from the comments section ( mainly from the US but of European and also African/asian/Middle Eastern heritage), it would appear that lots of other cultures physically chastise their children even these days. They all laugh about it and say they have respect for their parents and still love them…

Smacking isn't particularly unusual in most countries. It's soft disciplining, not the same as hitting!

I'll never forget about 10 years at a French petrol station a guy (presumably the father) dragging 2 young girls out of a car and smacking them both across the face.
It was horrifying

This thread would be going very differently if it didn’t involve the French.

I'm sure if they're French it's done in a very thin and sophisticated way, apparently that makes it fine on MN. After all French children are sooooo well behaved.

Yes because they’re terrified of getting slapped round the face or kicked. What excellent parenting 😐

I was thinking the same. People are so in awe of the French, that suddenly assaulting children is fine because it's done in a très chic way.

I live in France but have never seen this. To be fair, most of my friends have older kids.

What I have noticed is the casual violence in films, such as slapping a teenage daughter across the face.