Whats your take on this proposal from AU, whats the consensus here? Options

[saleeka]

I just recently read that there is a push in Austraila to put a ban on smacking children, and found it quite interesting. Got me to thinking, what is the consensus coming from the people here (who are mostly from the US) about it? As a form of punishment (read: not abuse), do you think it's ok? Before anyone says anything, please remember to keep it civil, ok

[mzztoyota]

my family never resorted to "spanking" when my siblings and i were younger...as we got older and more exasperating, they started to try it, but by then we were just like "yeah, whatever, I don't come straight home after school so you hit my bum a couple of times, whatever, I can take that" lol. They got smart quick and started taking away our room phones, banning us from TV or grounding us, depending on the situation...that kept us in line more than anything, because we were too small to fight them, and they made for daym sure that we couldn't get out of the house (deadbolts with key locks on both sides suck...as to Dutch windows...ugh...)

i believe a child can be raised just fine without ever hitting them, but if that is all that a parent knows how to do, or all he/she can think of to resort to, or believes that it helped them gain character, who are we to judge what methods they use to raise their children? Perhaps some parenting classes with alternate methods can be suggested, but you can't force that on a person, I think...that's just how some families keep kids in line...