Cheetah7

I saw something on TV the other day about smacking children and I must say I felt quite uncomfortable at some of what I saw.

My Mum smacked us when we were little and at times I was of the opinion that 'nothing wrong with a smack' kind of thing.

But really, is it right? Is it right for one person (an adult) to smack another? Why is it OK for a 'big person to smack a little person' yet if your partner gave you a smack to put you in your place because he/she truly believed it was right, would you like it?

I know my Mum would smack us if we did something bad enough but when i saw a mother whack her boy round the head in the supermarket once, I felt quite sick, personally I have issues with public reprimands as in screaming, yelling that kind of thing, although telling a child off is one thing, whacking him round the head is another.

I know I am not a parent but it's funny how some of us that were smacked and thought 'it never did me any harm', now may feel uncomfortable watching other kids get smacked.

It is only recently that my opinion has changed - must be old age or if I had kids, I may think differently.

But is it right to smack your child, is it violence, is it acceptable and could it have effects in later life?

Gems

No its never acceptable. I have 4 kids aged 19 to 7yrs, I have never smacked them. I am regularly told my kids are very well behaved.

I was smacked as a child and it doesnt work. My eldest sibling was wild, and they would just laugh in my parents face when they got hit. Had no effect what so ever on them and they just got worse.

You can discipline your kids in other ways. Smacking doesnt work in my opinion.

Gems

Cheetah7

My sisters husband used to smack her 'to punish her and put her in her place'

GarryP

I quite agree. Choke-chain or shock collar are much more effective

Cheetah7

<snort>

moneypenny20

Smacked mine when they were small, back of the leg, back of the hand. Only in certain circumstances though and it worked.

Cheetah7

I watched Super Nanny and there was one episode where this child was hitting the mother - quite hard as well and he headbutted her, now that must have been hard to take.

scottishcelts

No.

I hate seeing a parent smacking outside, a slap on the hand/back of legs/bum obviously is different, but to see a child being attacked by a violent parent is abuse and I always have a strong urge to treat the parent in the same way and ask them how they feel about that.

slapphead_otool

Smack me SC - I have been soooo naughty again.

I will pay extra....

SarahRob198

I have a 3 year old son who doesn't half know how to throw his weight around and throw tantrums but very rarely if ever does he get a smack, never would he be smacked across the head that's just not fair! I was smacked growing up and at the time i didn't agree because i frickin' hurt but now thinking about it it never did me any harm infact it put me in my place when i tried doing wrong, just as it does my son now. However, there are alot more ways of dealing with things before smacking i.e. talking to the child on their level, keeping calm etc. And i'm sure we all prefer to do this

carolinephillips

Very hard this- I smacked my daughter once, as a three year old but that was a very last resort and it was more a smack to stop her putting her hand into something that might have hurt her worse. Usually I'd count to 3, but rarely got past two. She knew I'd follow through, although I felt really guilty at having lost control.

Smacking round the head is wrong, as is using any kind of implement. So is shaking and dragging by the arm.

Cheetah7

I had a school teacher who would throw blackboard rubbers at the heads of children that were naughty in class. It hit one boy called Gregory on the head and bruised him.

Can you imagine that now?

Wol

A good hard smack works wonders. Just look around at the kids of today and you can see what happens when you go all softy on them.

The worst thing is not to smack - and then eventually lose it completely and really tear into them - that doesn't help at all.

macy

Ooh so did I, there was often a blackboard rubber flying around our class room and we also had a teacher that pulled girls hair and this was in primary school, funny to think that nobody thought anything of it... just the way it was

Cheetah7

Our PE teacher (one of them) would put her hands under the our towels to see if we had been in the shower.

If I were at school now, no way on gods earth would I use communal changing rooms or showers - it would absolutely not happen. I wonder how many teachers do the job because it gives them a chance to perv.

This particular teacher would touch in personal places to see if the girls had been in the shower. Filthy bitch.