permission to smack child

[whatdoidojusthelp]

i have name changed for this, but.....

I am a cm

having a spot of bother with a 3 yr old, wilful disobedience.... asking if they can do something bad, when i say no they do it anyway.

so today parent picks child up and says, well, i wont repeat it word for word just in case they are on here

but they gave me persmission to smack the child if they did anything dangerous

now i know they have smacked the child before because the child told me.

I would never smack, its not in my nature, but i'm so sad for the little one....

what do i do? do i ignore it or do i call ss?

Outraged makes a good point. I have only ever smacked one of my children and him only once before he was 2 - when he was pulling the cat's fur (despite being told many times, and on this occasion, not to). I could see that the cat was about to turn, so I slapped DS's hand away from the cat. It was literally the only thing I could think of to do. DS wailed, I wailed, the cat scarpered without scratching anyone. Although I'm not proud of it, and I sobbed on DH's shoulder, I don't think it was a disaster. And it taught me that 20 months was too young to introduce DS to cats.

Soontobesix.....there was proposals last year but certainly no law passed as yet saying that under 3 is illegal to smack. I am prepared to be wrong though!

Can you provide a link for reading, I can't find anything online.

It's legal for a parent to smack a child so long as they don't cause injury/leave marks/use a weapon.

Just explain to the parent that under Ofsted regs you can't smack. Maybe you could offer some advice on alternative methods, or sign post the parent to parenting courses if you think they might appreciate it?

If you are concerned that there might be more to this (eg. abuse), record what the parent said, record that you have discussed it with them and the outcome.

Since it sounds like they specified that you had permission to smack the child if they were doing something dangerous, it sounds like they understand appropriate use of smacking (not that I am condoning this myself) and are using it as a way to protect the child rather than as a physical punishment. I was given permission to smack the child I look after too if they were doing something dangerous and whilst I have no intention to do so, I can see that the mother just wants to keep her child safe because a smack on the hand is far better than a burn or a break. Unless you have reason to believe the child is being abused, I wouldn't worry. Also, it is quite good to know that the mother would be understanding in the event of something happening. I feel like if I needed to pull the child out of the way of a car (potentially hurting them a but by pulling them) the mother would see that it would be for the greater good. That being said, you should definitely not smack the child. It is interesting to hear of someone else being granted permission to smack.

Am I here the only pro-smacking? I do believe in a rare occassion smacking (not talking often or physical) but then I am about all the current generation child excessive rights and entitlements, and sometimes I wish I was born in my parents' generation.

The parents of the child are clearly concerned with the child doing something dangerous and I do understand them.

Having said that I would not dare to smack somebody else's child, given permission or not.

Yes you are the only one 'pro smacking'

Sorry