Scotland. Banning smacking in the home.

Hear hear

Couldnt agree more.

Misleading thread title - I thought it meant Scots could smack their kids outside......?

It will also be illegal in Wales from 2022.

I thought that became law quite some time ago and was surprised to see it in the news.

Totally agree. Violence , and hitting a child is exactly this, solves nothing.

100% agree.

A good idea. Like Esspee I thought it was already in law in the UK. Or something nearly there.

My only concern is when is a child a child. If a child regularly sees a parent hitting or beating the other parent, s/he may well think s/he has the same right, especially if s/he is in a gang where violence is the norm. What right would the parent have to defend themselves? A thirteen year old can pack quite a wallop.

It's just excellent news.

This is excellent news. Let's hope it is soon the law in England.

NfkDumpling - the parent you describe would need outside help and advice long before it reached the point a teenager was attacking them. I can't imagine police called to that kind of incident charging a mother with assault. They're usually very aware of the impact of domestic abuse and linked to children's services, who would be called in .

I too thought it was already law I think it is almost but with different wording something about undue force which could mean different things to different people so yes a blanket ban on ANY kind of hitting of children is what is needed Well done Scotland leading the way as usual good for Wales following BUT why 2022 why not now and come on England get your act together
As for the ‘never did me any harm’ brigand they get right up my little nose

Smacking has never been a problem of mine, not that I agree with it. I wonder what today's society, and more to the point, today's press, would make of Diana's admonishment of Prince William?

Spangler

Smacking has never been a problem of mine, not that I agree with it. I wonder what today's society, and more to the point, today's press, would make of Diana's admonishment of Prince William?

Are you upholding the royals as models of good parenting??????

Good parenting? Diana must have been the first to actually attempt parenting, perhaps that why she was known as a commoner.
The press did go overboard on that correction. I'm certainly no Royalist, nor would I try to justify smacking. William first of all got the index finger wagging, he was having none of it, so when Diana had enough, William got the palm of her hand on his bottom.
Look at the footage and you will see that it was more of a push but read any story in the press and you would be forgiven to think she had birched him.
Her determination to raise her own children and the pressure she was under to put them in the care of nannies must have had some bearing. She lost it, but had that happened after the law was changed, what then?

What then? Well the same as when any law changes. Princess Margaret wouldn’t be able to smoke in a public place, All members of the RF would have to wear seatbelts and so on.

There is no reason not to make something illegal because someone influential has once done it.

Spangler - Diana's blood line was far more aristocratic than that of the Windsors'.
I'm not sure who regarded her as a 'commoner'.

Tiggie Legge- Bourke was William and Harry's nanny. Diana was jealous of her sons' love for Tiggie.

Spangler, that is the press for you! The media manipulate most situations to sell papers in my opinion

In the perfect world there would be no need for such a law. Has anyone stopped and thought how it will be enforced? My guess is that it will be meant as a deterrent.

Take, for example, the petulant young teenager, who isn't really aware of the seriousness of reporting a parent. That child tells his teacher that his father beats him. The teacher reports it to the police. The father is removed from the home. The whole thing is a tissue of lies on the child's part. The father could lose his job, the family could break up. Who do you believe?

Now take the child who really is being beaten, again a teacher notices the difference in the child's attitude. Carefully it's coaxed out of her that she is being beaten at home. Same scenario as before, parents are taken into custody, only this time the parents are clever. So skilled are they that they convince the authorities that the child is nothing more than a cunning manipulator. They are released. What fate awaits that poor child back at home.
This legislation will prove to be a minefield.

Spangler (I'm not picking on you, honestly!)
Re your scenarios.
Please be assured that Safeguarding in Schools is much, much more complex than you appear to think.

First off, if a child discloses parental abuse to a teacher, it is absolutely not the place of that teacher to tell the police. If you did do that you would probably lose your job.

You do, however, have a legal responsibility to report it to the school's Designated Safeguarding Lead, and noone else.

There is then an extremely sound and thorough procedure which is then followed to the letter.
Safeguarding is a massive thing in all schools, and rightly so.

Oh, and you are certainly not allowed to 'coax'.
You are not even allowed to question.
You write down exactly what the child says and pass it on to the DSL immediately.

Also by that logic we would have no safeguarding laws whatsoever.

ban smacking outside too. the other week i saw a mum hit her child round the head hard .i leant out the window and said dont do that ,you can give her brain damage . was told to eff off .she said ITS my child i can do what i want .me says its child abuse . more swearing ,so i took a photo of her and the child ,who head was turned away sobbing . and said if i saw her do it again i would report her.. ok it was a stranger and not anyone i know but upset me to think she can do this. poor child was only running on the grass by my flat.. ..

moggie Im sure that it is illegal to hit a child outdoors.
It makes you think, if they do this in full view, what do they do behind closed doors?

Galaxy

Also by that logic we would have no safeguarding laws whatsoever.

Ladies, apologies if I sound antagonistic, I'm playing Devil's advocate to show you how difficult the enforcement of the law will be. Fanny, thank you for enlightening me on teacher responsibility, you are right, I wasn't aware.

This might seem like a verbal hand grenade, but think about it. If Diana's smack on William's bottom happened today, should it go without any warning? If it should, what would you say, or do, if your saw your child repeating what Diana did to William, on your grandchild?