General Chat

David, Karen and I have agreed to disagree I believe, so it's pointless arguing the same point over and over again. M.

Morffyd,Smacking is striking with the open hand, Hitting is the use of the whole hand down to the wrist. Dont upset people by confusing the two. Rupert

Malcolm, My Mother used to quote her own mother's saying - Spare the rod and spoil the child. I never thought much of that when I was a child, but I do now, figuratively speaking. When I became a parent, I decided to adopt a policy of 3 strikes and you're out. Any misdemeanour my son tried would earn a mild reprimand. If he did it again, he'd get shouted at, and if it happened again, he got a smack on the bottom with a hand. Not a hard smack, I hasten to add, just a firm tap. I did this from when he first started walking and 'getting into things', and it seemed to work. Once he became old enought to understand, I explained reasons why I didn't want him to do certain things, and he accepted that. He's always been well behaved and has always had great respect for both parents. I believe consistent discipline, applied from the start, is the best way to teach children self-discipline, and I despair when I see parents of young children ignoring bad behaviour and excusing it because 'he/she's only young'. That's the best time to teach them what's acceptable and what isn't. If you leave it till you've got an unruly 11-year-old, that's asking for trouble, in my book. CB >|<

Of course 'it' happened when you were at school, and further back. The difference was that you didn't have the media whipping up a storm and even if they had, you were probably too young to care. Some Scandinavian countries (I forget which ones!) banned smacking decades ago, and it's not often Scandinavia is mentioned as being a hotbed of social disorder.

ive not deserted this thread ive been viewing with interest and seem to be getting many varied points of view from people

Excuse me Rupert, I am not upsetting anyone, I have my opinions and I will voice them and stick to them, if people get easily upset they shouldn't take part in discussions. So please don't insult me again and by the way, spell my name right next time. M.

And an assault is making contact with someone else in a violent way. M.

lol Morfydd - I'm not arguing with anyone, I was just agreeing with what Elaine & Karen had said. But I will add that I find it offensive to hear wonderful people like my parents, who smacked me infrequently as part of a loving and disciplined upbringing, to be lumped together with people who physically abuse their children.

I smacked my children, I was not violent in doing so, a short sharp tap if all else failed....followed by an explaination on why they got the smack. Elaine x

Several people on here have said that they were never physically punished. What they have not said is what their general standard of behaviour was. We don't punish law-abiding people, we don't smack well-behaved children. However, there are always some who do not comply with the requirements of civilised behaviour. We can't take them all to Asda for rewards, so what do you propose rather than a short sharp shock?