Parents smacking and slapping children should become illegal in England

[JC544D]

Today Wales has joined more than 60 nations in outlawing physical punishment of children. The new law means people will be committing a crime if they smack, hit, slap or shake a child in their care.

We don’t allow adults to be hit by another person, nor do we allow adults to hit animals.

I think it's more than time England followed suit in outlawing the physical punishment of children by their parents.

What is your view?

I think it should be illegal in England too. My (godawful) MP has run a poll on his FB page today and the comments are depressing- vast majority in favour of smacking and lots of 'it didn't do me any harm' and 'kids today have no respect nonsense. I'm in my late 40's and wasn't smacked, grew up perfectly well and I don't smack DS who is a great, polite, respectful kid - it's ridiculous to suggest kids need physical punishment to become responsible adults.

I thought it was already illegal, can't actually believe it's not! 😳

nor do we allow adults to hit animals.

Sadly we do. Have you never seen the horse racing?

I agree though, smacking kids should be illegal.

It already is in Scotland.

Thankfully in a YouGov poll commissioned by the NSPCC , two thirds of people in England said they felt that physically disciplining a child, for example by smacking them, was unacceptable.

lots of 'it didn't do me any harm'

The only response to this is “it did, you think it’s okay for adults to hit children.”

I agree with you.

Well done to Scotland and Wales. Hopefully England will do the decent thing and ban it too.

It was banned as far back as 1979 in Sweden, 2000 in Germany, 2007 in Spain.

@EnglishGirlApproximately

I think it should be illegal in England too. My (godawful) MP has run a poll on his FB page today and the comments are depressing- vast majority in favour of smacking and lots of 'it didn't do me any harm' and 'kids today have no respect nonsense. I'm in my late 40's and wasn't smacked, grew up perfectly well and I don't smack DS who is a great, polite, respectful kid - it's ridiculous to suggest kids need physical punishment to become responsible adults.

I agree. Whenever anyone under 18 is involved in any crime or anti social behaviour in my area, the social media comments along the lines of ‘kids have no respect, this is what happens when parents are too soft and you can’t smack them’ etc. But I was never ever smacked or hurt in any way by my parents, I had complete respect for them and I would never have done anything ‘bad’ even away from them because I knew it was wrong but also because I wouldn’t have wanted to upset or disappoint them. I don’t think children need to be hit to be disciplined.

Isn’t it already frowned upon though anyway even if it’s not illegal? for example if a child told the school their parents had hit them they would be reported to ss so it’s already unacceptable.

Yes of course it should be. This thread will soon be drowned under all the people who only give a sharp tap/it’s the only way to stop them sticking their face in the deep fat fryer and keep them safe/my parents did and I was a horrible little cow who pushed them to the limit/before they can talk they can’t reason blah blah blah. It all amounts to ‘I’m a lazy parent and it’s easier to bully and hit my child than improve myself.’

I cannot imagine a worse thing to do as a parent than teach your child that the ones who love them most can and will hurt them. How to really fuck up your kids.

@AnneLovesGilbert

lots of 'it didn't do me any harm'

The only response to this is “it did, you think it’s okay for adults to hit children.”

Also just the absolutely tragic idea that ‘didn’t do any harm’ is tantamount to ‘did a good job as a parent.’ As if that’s your main goal - to not inflict lasting physical harm upon your child.

Quite a large % of the vote is YABU, I wish those people would comment as well so we can see other POV.

@AnneLovesGilbert

lots of 'it didn't do me any harm'

The only response to this is “it did, you think it’s okay for adults to hit children.”

This is a good one!

Every time I see an article on smacking on fb it the comments are always full of "it didn't do me any harm", "we're raising a generation of snowflakes", "the government can't tell me how to parent my child" etc. Facebook really makes you realise how many idiots there are in the world.

To answer your question OP, yes of course it should be illegal. It's a cruel, lazy way to parent. I will never understand how a parent can inflict needless physical pain on their child on purpose

Agree it should be outlawed here too.

When you have to resort to physically abusing and assaulting a small child - who does not know right from wrong - to 'teach them a lesson/to be good/to behave better,' then it shows you have failed as a parent.

You wouldn't use physical violence against another adult for not behaving how you see fit, so why on earth do you think it's OK to physically assault a small child?

And the 'it never did me any harm' brigade just boil my piss. Just fuck off with that! There is never EVER a reason to physically assault your child.

Totally agree with you. Hitting a child is abhorrent and just poor parenting.

nor do we allow adults to hit animals.

Er, yes we do.

@AHungryCaterpillar

Isn’t it already frowned upon though anyway even if it’s not illegal? for example if a child told the school their parents had hit them they would be reported to ss so it’s already unacceptable.

Not necessarily and even if it always was, SS would do fuck all for a smack that left no bruising or marks and everything else was otherwise "fine". There have been cases when parents are separated,one smack ,the other doesn't and when it was brought up in court it was put down to "differences in parenting " and contact still awarded.

Trouble is making it illegal will do nothing. People who smack their children still will.

Same as its illegal to murder but that doesn't stop some people.

Not necessarily and even if it always was, SS would do fuck all for a smack that left no bruising or marks and everything else was otherwise "fine".
There have been cases when parents are separated,one smack ,the other doesn't and when it was brought up in court it was put down to "differences in parenting " and contact still awarded.

Personally I’ve known of people to be reported for this so it definitely isn’t acceptable.

@Coulddowithanap

Trouble is making it illegal will do nothing. People who smack their children still will.

Same as its illegal to murder but that doesn't stop some people.

The difference is it would get rid (in my opinion) of sliding scales,justifications,excuses and minimising.

No more "it was just a tap" when it was a punch. Because the tap is illegal to begin with.

Whether the system (justice,police,SS etc) would actually be able to cope or be willing to follow through it's a whole different issue.

I agree 'Idontwanna'. A change would make it very clear that's it is simply unacceptable.

I think with time this is one of those things that people will look back on in shock saying 'I can't believe it was still allowed only so many years ago', 'I can't believe it was still allowed in 2022' etc

I agree. Smacking is what parents do when they haven't given any thought into how to disapline effectively, they do it on autopilot. My teenaged have never been smacked and are kind thoughtfull well rounded teenagers. Proves my point.

Smacking is what parents do when they haven't given any thought into how to disapline effectively, they do it on autopilot

yes it's something people do when they lose their tempers

I can understand why it happens eg if a toddler is about to run into the road and you only just grab them in time but it's still a loss of control by the parent.

Does it need to be a criminal offence when it is so frowned upon? I guess it might make people think twice in the sort of scenario I've outlined above.