Smacking, not a right…just a choice

I am getting pretty sick of conversations with people telling me all the time that to smack is their right as a parent…it’s not…it’s just a choice. If it is your right to smack then surely the child’s grandparents, uncles and aunts, older brothers and sisters, the extended whanau would have a claim to the same ‘right’, after all it takes a village to raise a family.

People seem all too keen to replace the word ‘smack’ with discipline, they are not interchangeable for goodness sake. If someone does smack, it’s a form of discipline that some use…not me, but some. If discipline was the topic, then smacking would be a subset…or paragraph, not the overriding, most important part of discipline.

The other part of this conversation that is difficult is people sighting religious books as to the reason they smack, again, it’s not, it’s just a choice, don’t hide behind an old testament scripture for a choice.

Finally people are terrified that good parents are going to be criminalized for a light smack…again it’s not happening. A good parent is as likely to be criminalized for a light smack as a good driver is to be criminalized for doing 56km in a 50 zone, the police use discretion.

Can we finish this sill fear mongering now please?