*I imagine this is true amongst parents who already parented their children pretty well and were (and still are) very unlikely to attract the attention of the police or social services.
But if you think it's true for other parents, I suggest you take a trip down to your local district court, or read the law reports or the newspapers. The depressing reality is that children regularly have seven bell bashed out of them by their parents, caregivers or step-parents and often the first that social services hear of it is when the coroner's court is convened. Beating up children was never legal under the law in NZ (and won't be under the existing laws in England and Scotland) as it wasn't justifiable, or reasonable, and wasn't a genuine exercise of discipline rather than rage. I think UK Mumsnetters would be absolutely appalled at the frequency of severe violence against children here, and the number of deaths of children at the hands of adults. There are some reports I can hardly bear to read.*
Well, yes and no. There certainly have been cases of “middle class” (though we are a classless society) parents being arrested for hitting their children including an MP. And the law gives police power to act which is why we are seeing more cases before the courts.
However NZ still has an appalling record for child abuse. if you break down the figures, you’ll see there is an ethnic component to the trend and a lot of work still needs to be done.
However I agree with the poster who said that there has been a shift in awareness that violence against children (or anyone) is unacceptable.
Calling violence “discipline” is so absurd, do people really still think it’s helpful to hit children?
As for the crossing road/touching oven thing, that is such a crock. Preschool teachers manage to take armies of small children out into the community and into kitchens to bake without having to hit anyone.