Protest March Over Smacking Children!

I keep looking at this post and avoiding it! I know if I answer it truthfully I shall lose rating and didn't really want that to happen! But I couldn't help it. I would like to start by saying that I do not agree in beating your children. Their is a big difference between abusing and disciplining your children. Sometimes I think that the two areas get confused. I don't believe in a blanket ban. I was ok with the law being modified that if you leave a mark you can be prosecuted. I think that all children are different and you need, as parents, to find a way of discipline that works for your child. For some it's time out for others a smack. One of my children responds best to a light smack on the hand. They know it is a last resort and that they have really over stepped the mark. I think we are entering in to the realms of the government dictating our every move. We can't smoke, we can't drink, we can't discipline our kids! Where does it end? And with this softly, softly approach to discipline (which doesn't work for all children), who will be to blame when our kids have discipline issues? We can allready be sent to jail if our kids play truant. I can't help but wonder what will be the state of affairs in ten, twenty years time. Please don't be offended as this is only my opinion!

Although I would never advocate violence toward children the fact remains that children worldwide seem to have less and less respect for their parents when the parents' authority is taken away.

Spanking not abuse,should be left up to the parent. While I agree that many now are against any kind of spanking,that is fine,they can raise their children as they like,but DO NOT allow the government to dictate laws that are not wanted. As has been mentioned,the government is "supposed"to be working for us,not the other way around,unfortunatly,this is no longer the case,they pass laws that are not wanted by anyone but the lawyers that make money from people breaking them. severaly abusing ,harming children should be stopped,this I have nothing against,but if one desides the child has gone to far,a good tanning of the butt can be in line. Thank you for the chance to get this out.

I am proud of those people. The governing agency is supposed to represent the people as their employees and so no they must take notice of this mass desire to defeat of this intrusive bill. I hope that they are successful and are prepared to go as far as it takes now and in the future when it would rear its ugly head once again. Thanks for sharing this news with us. I hope we take note and begin to stand up for our rights here in the States more.

I don't think this is a black and white issue, to be honest, and I consider myself a peaceful person in the extreme. I will gently dicipline my child with age-appropriate actions, but as I was spanked (hard enough to bruise) as a child, I would never do this to anyone. I do think, however, that in some cases it IS needed to prevent the child from getting into even bigger trouble. I have a friend who is a single mother of three, one of whom is a twelve year old boy who used to go around kicking adult men in the you-know-whats when he was quite a bit younger. He had anger issues. If this child were mine and behaving like that, not responding to loving discipline, having toys taken away, grounding and the like... I just might have resorted to a good sound spanking with the promise of more to come if he didn't stop the behavior. I promise you if he had a father figure, he would have gotten the same punishment, only likely more severe. Now, at 12, the boy respects his mom enough to know she means business, and she doesn't ever have to spank him... certain kids need to fear their parents just a little bit in order to respect them. And I agree with an earlier post that said children tend to respect their folks less when the govornment takes their power away. My mother never hit me until I was 16 years old, and I called her a nasty name. She smacked me across the face. I'll tell you, I learned a lot from that. At that age, it wasn't about 'abuse' it was about respect, and she respected herself enough as a woman to show me how inappropriate my actions were. A simple 'go to your room' wouldn't quite have done the trick. SO, as peaceful and loving as I think we should be, sometimes I believe there are lessons to be taught that need teaching regardless of how we teach them. If you are lucky, you don't ever need to resort to physical methods, but in severe cases I think a spanking when truly deserves does the child good in the long run. I think it depends on the kid, honestly.

I'm not against parents disciplining their children by giving them a smack when they need it. Some kids will just push their limit. What used to bother me when my kids were small was that the school had the right to whack your kid with a board on the buttocks without your permission. Mine never got hit, but the thought of it infuriated me, specially when we weren't supposed to hit our own children. Once, my son had an incidence on the bus where the hugely obese bus driver asked who dropped a piece of paper on the floor. He looked at Dan accusingly, though Dan didn't drop the paper. Dan said something smart, and the guy grabbed him by the jacket, almost ripping it, and pulled him out of the seat, tossing him around the bus. Dan got a little banged up,and the school called to complain that Dan was a troublemaker, and would get paddled if he had another incident. We got a lawyer and wrote a letter to the school stating that if anything like that were to happenagain,we would take legal action, and that any discipline taken would be up to us. The whole thing was ridiculous, for just a little smarting off on Dan's part. Nothing like that ever happened again, but I heard that that bus driver was abusive to other kids who really didn't do anything very bad, and the school was always on his side.

i don't believe in using physical punishment as well to discipline a child but i will use it as a last resort if the child is really hard headed and out of control... i disagree with the law as well that prohibit parents to smack their child and treat the parents as criminals if they do that... i think as long as the parents know the limit in disciplining the child and it is not considered as a child abuse, it should be alright for parents to smack their children once in a while...

If I lived there I'd be marching too. I am very against spanking and smacking children. I consider it abuse and I will never raise a hand at my daughter. My mother spanked me for discipline (and more). And well.. seeing that I hate the woman and don't even let her see my daughter it shows what good her discipline did for her.

I would definitely have joined the 83%.

The government should not dictate discipline. These government types will not be satisfied until they control how you raise your kids or even live your own life. They will just keep taking little bits of control until one day there will be nothing left to take. Then of course, it will be too late and people will wonder what happened. Discipline is necessary in raising children. What works for one may not work for another. When spanking becomes illegal and no longer possible, then words alone will no longer have an effect. The choice should always be up to the parent and not the government.

I believe in spanking children. The Bible teaches spare the rod and spoil the child. I'm not speaking about beating the child but spanking in love after you've explained to the child the reason for the spanking and that you're required to do it according to the Bible. And that you're doing it because you love the child.

I think that there is a big difference between mere spanking for discipline and the outright abuse that other parents do to their kids. I think its okay for parents to spank children as a means of disciplining them as long as they don't go beyond the line between discipline and abuse. As a kid, I've been spanked by my parents every time I did something really bad but afterwards they make me understand what I did wrong and why they had to spank me. Me and my siblings turned out OK even with this kind of discipline.

Hello,jennybianca,I think smcking the children is not a good way to teach them, it only hurt their hearts and leave some scars after they grow up. I think it is better for parents to reward thier children for the right thing but not punishing or smacking them for their wrongdoings. When I was a child, I had never smacked by my parents even when i was naughty,I know children do not like to be smacked and smacking does not work for children.

Personally, I'm against smacking kids in general. If its not abusive and just a light spanking here and there, its not like its going to harm them too much and some I guess really need a good smack, but I just don't think its right to raise your hand to someone, especially a small child, in anger. Especially with all the abuse going on these days. But.. i don't think its the government's place to dictate that you CAN'T choose to spank your child if you feel they need it. How many parents will end up in court and maybe even in jail because they lost their temper and swatted their child on the butt and got reported for it. It's just ridiculous! I hope the law doesn't get passed..but if it does, I guess the parents there will have to be very careful from now on about how they handle their kids. :O)

Second time to submit this and hopefully it will go through. I am glad those folk are standing up to what is supposed to be their employees and represent them. I hope that their wishes are duly noted and the bill goes down in flames. The people have the power and I am proud of them. Thanks for sharing this with us. I can only hope that we in the States take note and stand up for what we believe in more.

Second time to submit this and hopefully it will go through. I am glad those folk are standing up to what is supposed to be their employees and represent them. I hope that their wishes are duly noted and the bill goes down in flames. The people have the power and I am proud of them. Thanks for sharing this with us. I can only hope that we in the States take note and stand up for what we believe in more.

Second time to submit this and hopefully it will go through. I am glad those folk are standing up to what is supposed to be their employees and represent them. I hope that their wishes are duly noted and the bill goes down in flames. The people have the power and I am proud of them. Thanks for sharing this with us. I can only hope that we in the States take note and stand up for what we believe in more.

I got spanked as a child, it didnt hurt me or scar me for life, if anything it made me a better person. I think that whats wrong with the kids of today, they get away with anything, they brought up with no morals and respect. I think most of them deserve a spanking, none of this time out crap, the kids wouldn;t be how they are today, getting away with everything and no respect.

If my 2 year old has a tantrum in a shop telling him he will go and sit in the car is usally good enough reason for him to start behaving when people are around a law like that can make you feel very councious of how you disapline your kids. I know of a man who was seen giving his son a clip round the ear (as we say) by a neighbour who herself has no kids the boy had vanished from home beyond his comming home time in the evening and hid dad had phoned his pals that he knew and no one had seen him. next thing the police arrived arrested the dad put him a cell for a night and then he had to through a whole criminal trial and for what he did not hurt his son no in the manner of assalt or abuse but this is what can happen what right have the governmant to tell us how to disapline our children as long as it is not abusive "reasonable force" is best sometimes

i think kids should be smacked at least once a day and that is for stuff they did wrong that you dont know about.lol