In Scotland, the issue of spanking has become a religious one, with Christian Fundamentalism on one side and, apparently, everyone else on the other.
(Keep in mind, “smacking” a child in Scotland means “spanking.”)
MEET THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE: AGAINST SAME SEX MARRIAGE AND ABORTION, BUT FOR SMACKING.
The Christian Institute – one of two organisations behind pro-smacking pressure group Be Reasonable Scotland – was founded in England in 1991 and first appeared on the Scottish Charity Register in 2008.
Its key objective is the furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion and a “Biblical worldview”. It aims to influence debate about issues including the family, education, medical ethics, drugs and the constitution, according to the most recent annual report for 2016.
Turner, who describes smacking as the “best method” of disciplining children, said: “I was smacked when I was a child and although I didn’t enjoy it at the time I look back now and think I’m glad my parents did that. I knew what was right and wrong, what I should and shouldn’t do, and it was for my own good.”
She has a baby daughter and fears parents “will be criminalised” by proposals for a smacking ban, admitting that she plans to smack her child “when she gets to an age that it’s appropriate” – but underlined that she has not yet smacked the infant.
Turner initially refused to discuss the “appropriate” age to smack a child before stating that it would not be appropriate to smack teenagers.
She said: “I imagine at the age of 15 a smack probably wouldn’t be as effective a method. The purpose of smacking is to teach a child not to do something again…you shouldn’t have to keep smacking them.” Turner said it would be more appropriate to “ground” teenagers.
When asked the youngest age that a child should be smacked she admitted “it’s difficult to say because each child and each parent is different”.
She would not be drawn on whether parents should be permitted to use implements – such as a belt – to discipline children. “We’re not trying to prescribe an exact method,” she said.
Turner, however, did admit: “I don’t think it’s Christian to hit children”. She went on to make a distinction between hitting and smacking.
“I think my Christian beliefs support the view that I can discipline my child using reasonable chastisement,” she added. “I don’t think it’s right for anyone to hit a child.”
Green MSP John Finnie said: “I think it’s fair to say concerns have been raised with me [about the funding of opponents of the bill]. The challenge that lies with them is the basis for their objections, which sometimes people would take exception to. I think people are wary of the basis for some of the views that have been expressed.”
I find it hard to believe that “spanking” falls upon theological lines.
This would be like a Christian group pushing for lower taxes and the government framing the issue as areligious one.
“Christians are for lower taxes, to the exclusion of everyone else.”
ht/ the big owe
Raise yer kid right and you really don’t have to smack them around.
Smacking is lazy parenting.Try actually interacting with children instead of just **having** them.
Why I do not spank: Imagine the most intelligent, strong, caring, helpful, nurturing, supportive adult (your mom or dad) in your young life striking you, thereby physically demonstrating your worth to them. You may begin to see yourself as worthless.
I prefer to find alternative means to teach life’s lessons. This is base on experience, not theory.
Spare the rod …
Some kids you can look at disappointingly and they burst into tears. Other kids are trouble and test every boundary from the start. Same family.
Personally, I would rather tame a fire than pull water from a stone, but it can occasionally take more than creative and consistent parenting.
Letting children get their way is where snowflakes are born.
sorry but I believe in spanking.. it’s not acceptable in the uk but neither is a lot of the behavior that I see.
Sometimes the quickest way to the brain is by the butt.
if you do it right the first time you won’t have to do it again.
I rarely had to spank my children.
the first time I made such a big deal out of it I hardly ever had to do it again.
my children were told something once, if I had to tell them twice they received a little reminder on their backside to help them remember.
Don’t you DARE spank your darling angel, but have all the abortions you want!
And yet, Rotherham. Straining out a gnat, but swallowing a camel.
I was spanked, although rarely, because I respected my parents and yes a little fear was part of the equation.
I spanked my children and can count on one hand the number of times I spanked each of them and what they were spanked for, again my kids respected my authority and I’m sure a little fear was part of the equation.
It is not lazy parenting imo, a parent knows when the punishment fits the crime and what works with their children. Two of my kids, spanking or the threat of a spanking worked. One of my kids, spanking was a waste of time and he begged for a spanking instead of having his privileges taken away.
Those against spanking imagine that there is some tremendous violence. Because they are so ingrained against it that they have to fantasize it as something horrid. A proper spanking is to get the attention of a child, something that smarts but leaves nothing lasting, and done in a controlled, nonemotional fashion. It’s effective.
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.
Proverbs 23:13 NIV
A good spanking is NOT abuse and is not a “beating”.
Properly done it relays to the child that their parents love them enough to correct them. Society then benefits from properly spanked young ones. They’ve learned respect & restraint & good behavior and they are loved.
Yep. I got all the spankings I deserved as a child. And I sparingly spanked my children, when appropriate. Nothing wrong with it.
Read the Bible
Childrens’ ability to “reason” does not just occur at birth. Humans go through stages of both physical development and mental development, and “reason” on an abstract level does not usually occur earlier than pre-teen.
Children of very young age have no life experience upon which to draw and thus have no reasons positive or negative to do or not do anything. They, unlike animals, do not come out of the womb knowing “reason” by instinct.
A disciplinary reason that isd physical and not delivered hatefully is the best reason they can get