Smacking illegal in Scotland

[KiaraS]

A controversial discussion.
Personally I hope they introduce this in England too. There are better ways to teach good behaviour.
And yes I had a couple of smacks as a kid and I'm fine/not damaged etc but unless this is regulated there are a lot of kids for whom it's not two gentle smacks over a 7 year period, it's daily from exasperated parents who don't have the skills or techniques to adopt a different approach.
So do we need as a society to assist parents with skills to deal with bad/annoying/naughty/difficult behaviour differently or should we expect adults to recognise that violence against children isn't ok so no investment is needed or is smacking ok?

My ds is 4, never smacked him and don't agree with it. I was smacked growing up and given the belt not a pleasant experience.
I know a few parents who have smacked their child, I think its a punishment given out in anger and frustration a lot of the time.
I'm not sure it should be made illegal though, there are many great parents out there who may end up with social work or police involvement for a one off incident.
I think social work and police time is better sourced in identifying abusive parents.

You make a very valid point. Thank you.