There is quite a debate on spanking children here in the UK. (Here it is called ‘smacking’.)
Some folks want to make it a crime to do so. They say that children have just as much a right as an adult to be free from assult. For instance, if I don’t like what my co-worker does, and I belt him one, I can be arrested for assult.
My two cents’ worth? This is an invalid argument — that being, children have an inalienable right to be free from physical discipline. The argument states that children have the same rights as adults. Here’s my problem with that argument:
1) My co-worker is a grown man. My hope is that he will understand and respond to conversational speech in an adult manner.
2) I am not morally or legally responsible for my co-worker’s actions. In a like vein, I am not going to pay for his medical bills should he decide to stick peanuts up his nose.
3) Should I choose to spank my co-worker against his wishes, I should hope he would cite me for assult, what with points 1 and 2 being valid above. Unless he would WANT me to spank him, and then I’ve got a bigger problem on my hands, figuratively speaking.
4) In many cases, children’s pressure points are different from adults’ pressure points. What keeps a project manager from having to break up this type of conversation from two team members: “Bill, Sally’s looking at me again…!” “Am not!” “You are too, you geek ” “Bill, Sally kicked me “…? Ok you’ve probably listened to or participated in such a conversation at work but what for the most part makes this a silly scenario? Adult attitudes and pressure points. For the most part, a 30-something adult responds to the fear of embarassment differently from a 7 year-old. That’s what makes children so refreshing and young. However, it also keeps children from fully comprehending our adult conversations… and adult discipline. In some cases, a firm but fair swap on the bottom is part of the guiding process we adults need to administer.
I agree that there are limits to spanking. Some parents are too aggresive in this area, as all parents are in one area or another. My own kids rarely if ever get spanked anymore, as they are more cognizant of their surroundings. Also, their pressure points have changed. Grounding a 2-year-old from the Playstation has no effect on the 2-year old as much as a quick spank on the hand will.
Back to work now…