Family Education Trust welcomes the DoH decision to respect parents' judgement on the appropriate disciplining of children. A number of prosecutions for parental smacking or restraint have been reported over the past year. These have caused great distress to the families involved, especially the children. They have also wasted the time and resources of courts and social services, as well as public money, all of which is urgently needed to help seriously abused children. There is however an argument against DoH proposals to criminalise parents who use a slipper or instrument other than the hand to smack their children.
Some parents regard the hand as caring and healing.
A slipper or wooden spoon can be seen as an impartial instrument which marks a boundary. It can be used as a warning when behaviour gets out of hand and, since such a warning is usually heeded, the child is corrected without chastisement. Many parents who have the sanction of smacking, never smack their children. We believe that parents should be judged competent to make such decisions with their families without political interference. These kind of questions simply miss the whole point of how we should be treating our children - in ways that show that we respect them, that are effective in teaching them the difference between right and wrong and that help to reduce the level of violence in society rather than contributing to it.