Anti-Smacking Law

[Vladimir]

Oh dear. What has happened to Scandinavians.

[Ironside]

Oh dear. What has happened to Scandinavians.

Inspired by the Israelis.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yes, it's incorrect (Sweden was first, in 1979), but Israel does forbid smacking and have done it for quite a while.

Does anybody consider it right to dicipline thier wife or employees with a bit of smacking?

Smacking them is not abuse, most of the time it doesn't even hurt it's just a way of showing an extreme displeasure

Awww common, nothing says 'I strongly disagree' like a well delivered punch in the face, some people just react better on that, saves time.

Yes you do need other methods to dicipline your children (if they need it) without the use of smacking, but it's certainly possible and doesn't seem to change the "failure" rate much.
So those "in need of smacking" doesn't need it to turn out fine.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Does anybody consider it right to dicipline thier wife or employers with a bit of smacking?

Moroccans and German judges, apparently.

[Kralizec]

Even if it's legal, I seriously advice you not to smack your boss Ironside

[Ironside]

Even if it's legal, I seriously advice you not to smack your boss Ironside

Mumbles something about edit function thingy

[Duke Malcolm]

Bah, Humbug! I'm all for corporal punishment, and throughout my school life have always advocated the belt, slipper, cane, or tawse and written several essays to that effect.
I believe smacking children under 3 is banned in scotland, and the degree to which once can smack a child is restricted, i.e. if bruises or welts occur due it, it is illegal. But a slap across the wrist, or a clip around the ear -- which were common in the Ducal Household -- are permitted.

[doc_bean]

Little children can be extremely vulnerable if hit the wrong way, so I can see how some of these laws make sense from a medical perspective. I'm neither pro nor contra hitting your child though, if it works for you and you don't hurt the kid it's fine by me.

I'd personally advocate burning toys, giving them nothing but brussel sprouts to eat, unplugging the tv or computer or threatening to send baby pictures to a HS mailing list before smacking though.

[Husar]

Hmm, I was talking about raising kids and teaching them disciplin, morals and how to behave, your wife and boss should know that already.
My parents stopped smacking me when I grew older because at that point they could just as well talk to me, their authority was established and I became more reasonable.
Smacking the wife is about as bad as wives smacking the husband or boyfriend, which can often be seen in movies and is surprisingly not frowned upon. It's always the fault of the man.

[Blodrast]

I
Does anybody consider it right to dicipline thier wife or employees with a bit of smacking?

The difference is obvious, the wife isn't 5 years old. You can discuss with the wife, etc. The child will not always listen, and you can certainly not explain WHY some things are good and some are wrong.
How about kids throwing a tantrum ? You know, when they never listen to what you say, and couldn't hear you anyway, since they're yelling at the top of their lungs ? Yes, you can explain to him that's rude, impolite, and it bothers the people around him, for a couple of hours, until he gets tired of screaming. Or you can give in and give him whatever he wants. OR, you can smack him a good one and raise a well-behaved child, instead of one who knows he'll always get what he wants by throwing tantrums.

As for the wife aspect, you BET a bit of smacking is desirable, if applied at the appropriate moments!

[Lemur]

Well, I'm all for leaving parenting to the parents, but smacking just seems unnecessary. My papa lemur could always put the Fear of God into me with just his voice. I find I have the same ability with my little lemurs. Adding a spank or a smack to that would be redundant.

And yup, taking away privileges puts the little lemurs on the spot when necessary. But if you want to smack your kids around, I'm not the guy to stop ya.

[Goofball]

I don't think giving your child a smack should be against the law, assuming the smacks in question are not to the head or face, and are not hard enough to leave a bruise.

But having said that, I think that a parent who has to resort to smacking their child as a form of discipline/teaching is failing at a part of parenting and should consider reading a parenting book or three.

[Hepcat]

My view is identical to Blodrast and Husar. My parents only smacked me when I really deserved it, the same to my younger brother who is 14 now. Yet they never EVER punished my youngest brother who is 12 now.

They always gave him a leeway since he's youngest and whenever we reacted to his provocation we were told to just ignore him or that we should know better. He was bearable until he reached the age of 11. He doesn't have any sense of authority, he believes he is always right and will not listen to anyone else. It is only NOW that my parents realise he has behavioral problems, the problem is that he can keep his tantrum consistant for up to 5 HOURS! So often my parents can't be bothered with the hassle of trying to deal with him when they have work to do.

One example is from a few weeks ago when he was mocking my brother while he was playing a computer game, naturally after a while my brother got fed up and yelled at him. Mother came over to find out what was going on, the youngest one denies everything (this is his ultimate plan, deny everything so feverantly that my parents don't know who to believe), when my mother asked him to go off and do something else he started the tantrum with his well practiced routine.

Stage 1: WHY!!! BUT WHYYY WHYYYYYY!!!!

then Stage 2: AWWW BUT YOU NEVER BELIEVE ME, YOU ALWAYS BELIEVE THEM! THEY ARE LYING, YOU ALWAYS TELL ME TO GO AWAY!!!!

by now (usually after 30 minutes) my mother asks him to go to his room. He refuses, and remains where he is. Mum calls in Dad to take him to his room. This is where he does Stage 3:

OWWWWW!!! LET GO!!! YOU ARE HURTING MY ARM!!!!

My dad tells him, "Fine then, just don't go back by the computer." and releases him. Now that the situation has been defused he returns to sitting behind my brother and doing exactly what he was doing in the first place, or would lean closer to the screen to further annoy my brother. My parents follow him, try to tell him to go to his room and it starts all over again.

And I firmly believe this is because my parents simply didn't discipline him. The reasons they didn't when he was 11 and 12 is because they told us that his behavior is probably because of the epilepsy mediaction he had just started taking so we should stop picking on him and just ignore him. Yet since he stopped taking them at the end of last year they now realise that it was not his medication making him that way.

Anyone care to explain how words are meant to make him behave? If there is some miracle sentace to bring him to heel I'd love to know.

[doc_bean]

We don't not love you anymore and wish you'd just die, your brothers are good sons, that's why we believe them, you are just a worthless waste of space here.

Then when he runs away, don't go looking...

[Productivity]

Anyone care to explain how words are meant to make him behave? If there is some miracle sentace to bring him to heel I'd love to know.

Words wont help much now. Your parents made the mistake much earlier when they let the behaviour develop to the stage it is now. If when your brother had first started the problems, at a young stage he instantly had privelidges withdrawn, it wouldn't have developed. You argue that smacking is necessary now but only because your parents got it wrong in the first place. Even still, why don't they just cut off all privelidges to him now, until he stops acting like that?

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I think giving kids a spanking or a smack or two is sometimes needed, but it also shouldn't be done often and if it results in any sort of bruising or welting it definately goes too far. I'd rather not have it legal for teachers to smack kids around though.

As to wives/girlfriends smacking their significant others around that's not my problem unless I happen to take an interest in some very large and strong women, and even then I can just keep with my lumberjack training here in Deutschland and it still won't be a problem.

[ICantSpellDawg]

the modern world is ridiculous and repressive. i wish dueling was still legal.

NZ'ers should have a national "Slap your child in the face" day to respond to this law.

[Bijo]

Frag, even though I ain't ya poppa, I will smack you too, and I don't even know why. *smacks Fragony*


But now to be serious and quick...

Basic point is discipline. As long they're being raised well, disciplined and such, within normal boundaries of okay behaviour. If that means smacking is needed, then so be it.
Too much discipline is not good, though, I think. And no discipline at all is plain bad as well. A balance must be there.
Personally I think most countries should just activate the levy again (or whatchamehcallit). If those children haven't been properly disciplined throughout time, they will be in the army at a teen age of, what, 18?

[Samurai Waki]

I get smacked by my Fiancee on a regular basis, but its usually because I make demeaning remarks towards her gender.

Edit: Always in Good Fun of course.