Discipline and Parenting

Would there be fewer troubled teens if children were taken to task for their misdeeds instead of coddled? Is there a place for spanking? Not physical abuse - just the necessary sharp reprimand when behavior is poor. Poorly raised and undisciplined children inevitably become teens at risk for drug abuse and criminal behavior. Though no society should countenance abuse, none should tolerate flagrant poor behavior. There is an ongoing controversy in Great Britain as to whether the government has the right to interfere in a parent’s disciplining of their child. I am assuming that what they call “smacking”, we call spanking. The seeming universal push to turning governments into nannies is distressing on a number of levels, but when they reach between parent and child, as they so often seem to do, parents need to make sure that they know where the line is drawn.

Great Britain Review Stand on Spanking

“A legal expert has claimed the assembly government could start the process to make smacking a criminal offence. Some children’s charities have welcomed the prospect, saying a ban would clarify a confusing issue for parents. But Family and Youth Concern said it was wrong to pass laws on how parents should bring up children. Norman Wells, from Family and Youth Concern, which researches the effects of family breakdown, said: “Nobody has got a right to come along and tell you to eat up your greens, or tell you what time to go to bed. “But you do have that sort of right and power with a child who is your responsibility. “Parents stand in a unique relationship to their children, and along with that unique relationship and that unique responsibility, comes unique authority,” he added.” (unknown source) October 31st, 2007 by Ann Walker