Parenting Professor says that she supports smacking children

[ThisAmpleCritic]

Quote:
Prof Ellie Lee, a family and parenting researcher at the University of Kent …supports the use of smacking, said: "It would be great if we could just be nice to children and think they would just be nice back. But the reality of it is, is that in order for children to understand the rules of society, and to learn how to behave in a way that is moral, and that is good, we have to have boundaries, and boundaries have to be backed up."

AIBU to think this is a disgusting attitude and her credentials should be challenged? Children deserve protection from
violence and aggression from their caregivers. Why should they not be given the same rights as adults, who are free to test boundaries without fear of physical assault?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2eyke83yz9o

So it is just children they like to hit? Sounds like a terrible society, which singles out the small and dependent to hit.

That's a pretty huge leap.

Maybe they just think that it works and there's nothing wrong with it.

I think that some people resort to harsh discipline out of a genuine fear of their children growing up to be bad people. I get that fear although think that there are wrong ways to approach the issue like smacking.

I didn’t smack my own children but I did sometimes shout which is potentially worse?
However I do think there’s a difference between corporal punishment inflicted in a cold manner and the odd slap meted out when a parent is at the end of their tether. This was very much the case with Italian families when I was growing up and half the time the kids dodged the slap and certainly never feared their parents in a deep way.
You see a similar situation played out in the sitcom Friday night dinner where Jackie often aims slaps at her boys. Yet there is no doubting the affection between them.
I personally think the threat of corporal punishment in secondary schools might sort out some of the appalling behaviour you see cited on MN and which is causing teachers to leave the profession.

There is nearly 8 billion people on this planet I am not friends with. I still don't remember the last time I smacked anyone.

Off topic, but are you saying you've got over 300 million friends? You said you're not friends with nearly 8 billion people, but the population of the world is over 8 billion and 300 million people.

Anyway, I also don't agree with smacking children...

I agree and in countries where it is acceptable to smack children, you also find the same attitude towards smacking women.

I definitely don’t condone smacking for children but I’m not sure about the correlation between that and violence. I think some schools are probably MORE violent, especially towards teachers , than in the past when there was the threat of a very humiliating punishment.
I also think that for some cultures where it’s the norm, it’s seen by the children as less of a “thing” and this is what a PP was saying.