Smacking kids

[Anonymous]

Gill

I am afraid that I have to say I find your innuendo insulting.

I ave smked mi kids and I ain't fick.


Tony

 

[Midnight]

I'll spare the details, but my childhood was about as far removed from a fairy tale as it gets... when I was dumb enough to get caught I got smacked.. and thoroughly deserved it too... it didn't take too long to figure that there's a "line" that ya just don't cross....or else.!!!!

I take exception to the assumption that any kind of physical discipline leads to a pre-disposition towards violence; although I'm unqualified to describe how I've turned out, I've never maliciously hurt anyone, whether intended as discipline or otherwise, simply because I KNOW there's a "line" that ya just don't cross...

Causally observing the kids in my area who've grown up knowing that they can pretty much do as they please without fear of consequence; their disregard for law and contempt toward property demonstrate just how effective current policies are working... did I miss the page that said from here on in we need more scumbags...????

Not being a parent myself, I have to ask.... what exactly ARE sophisticated parenting skills? I've a pretty clear idea of right and wrong, and I'd hope I'm capable of teaching that to any kids that the future may bring...but I'd hardly call that sophisticated. Seems to me that with the best of intensions in mind, someone's seriously dropped the ball....

 

[Gill]

Lol, Tony :lol:

Who am I to call anyone else ‘thick’ when I can’t even spell ‘necessarily’ ?

All I’m saying is that we all come into this world with no life skills ourselves, needing parents. As time goes by we all learn different skills that help us get by. Some of us will acquire skills that will make us fantastic parents ourselves, whereas others will be less proficient. Much will depend on our personalities, the influence of mentors such as our parents, our own up-bringing and our environments. Just because there’s a paradigm family environment, it doesn’t mean we should condemn families that fall short of this standard. Although there will be a few ‘perfect’ parents, the efforts of the rest still have merit, so long as they strive to create a family environment that’s perfect for their families. To my mind, it’s better to develop a family that’s perfect for it’s members rather than to try to construct a perfect family for its members to fit into. I don’t see it in terms of people being uneducated as such; I see it in terms of people doing the best that they can with the resources and capabilities that are available to them for the benefit of those they love.

I don’t remember many things I was taught at school. The population of New Delhi is knowledge that I’ve never needed, nor is the ability to calculate coefficients of regression. What I do remember are those things that happened away from the blackboard, like learning how to make friends, what upsets people and so on - the sort of things that don’t give me formal qualifications but enable me to get on in life. Perhaps if schools placed more emphasis on such considerations we might have citizens who are less academically qualified but who are better placed to be good parents and responsible members of society.

There again, what do I know :wink: ? Especially at this late hour.


Gill

 

[Anonymous]

Absolutely Gill. I have often remarked to my wife that we would have benefited immensely from lessons in bringing up children - or a handbook. If all else fails RTFB

I too had a 'rocky childhood' at times and lived my first 22 years in a very run down and very poor neighbourhood where excessive physical punishment was the norm – I ‘tasted’ the belt fairly often. I pulled myself out of the area and mentality but unfortunately many don't. Violence often begets violence.

I can see where the government is coming from but they have (apparently) lumped all classes, educational levels, social skills, backgrounds, temperaments etc. together in an assumption that we are ALL unable to judge what is right for our children.

A law against smacking would not have saved the life of that poor girl who was tortured (burnt with cigarettes and beaten) by her uncle? and died in a bath in London a while back. If I recall correctly, the social worker was too afraid to visit and so the abuse went unchecked.
Better infrastructure and support for the social services etc. would have been a more suitable measure - but that costs money!!!!! :twisted:

My girls are aged 10 and 22, I won’t be smacking them again :lol: :lol:

Cheers

Tony

 

[trevtheturner]

The present Government does seem obsessed with wanting to legislate for every eventuality, unnecessarily in most cases. There is already legislation in place, and it has been for years, to deal with all forms of 'child abuse' - The Children & Young Persons Act.

In the same way, there is perfectly good legislation to deal with drunkenness and yobbish behaviour - the licensing laws and the Public Order Act. 'Fixed penalty' tickets, as recently introduced in an attempt to deal with these problems, are a nonsense. What is really needed is enough beat police officers to enforce these statutes together with firm support from the courts (and a much needed streamlining of the court system).

The government would do far better putting its efforts in this direction, rather than just introducing yet more and more legislation with little prospect of it being effective.

Trev.