IT is difficult to know whether to praise or to condemn the proposal to ban the smacking of a child ("(" MSP brings in bill to ban all smacking of children", The Herald, September 7). This delicate matter will have to be approached very carefully indeed.
Those who advocate such a ban are doing so from a liberal perspective and with some justification in that violence not only begets but also breeds violence. You also have to wonder whether there is not a fair amount of virtue-signalling among those who are bringing forward this proposition.
In the real world most smacking will take place in the home away from public view. In general it will be seen as a last resort when all other avenues have failed.
What is problematic about smacking a child is whether it is used as the case of first resort, thus meaning that the child is being brought up in a climate or culture of violence, or if it is administered in a fit of anger or the smack is directed at the head, face or ears of the child. All of the above are totally unacceptable and will have no place in normal family discipline.
What will be worrying, if the proposal becomes law, is that kids catch on very quickly and will be well aware of what is the best way to intimidate parents who wish to exercise less punitive measures towards them. It would not be the first time that kids have threatened to accuse an adult of misconduct out of spite or revenge. There will also be the extra fear that neighbours could inform against parents because they suspect a parent has smacked a child on occasion.
While I do not subscribe to regular or wholesale smacking of any child, I would not wish to rule out,when all other sanctions have failed, the occasional admonitory slap on the bottom by making any form of smacking illegal.
Sometimes we can go too far with legislation instead of relying on the common sense and discretion of the vast number of the population to be sensible in matters such as smacking a child.
Let those who are involved in this debate in Holyrood beware of a blanket ban on smacking with the unforeseen consequences such a ban would bring in its wake.
Denis Bruce,
5 Rannoch Gardens, Bishopbriggs.
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