It’s Okay for Adults to Hit Kids, says Tony Abbott
- Tony Abbott rules out ban on hitting children
- Research shows that physical punishment in childhood leads to behavioural problems later in life
- Physical punishment of children is banned in 33 other countries
A ban on parents smacking their children risks turning Australia into a nanny state, says Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who admits he hit his own kids.
A UN Committee on the Rights of the Child report has asked Australia to abolish the right of parents to use reasonable force to discipline children.
The committee would also like teachers and childcare workers to report cases of parents’ physical abuse against their children
However Tony Abbott is against the idea.
“I was probably one of those guilty parents who did occasionally chastise the children, a very gentle smack I’ve got to say,” Mr Abbott told the Gutter Trash earlier today.
“I think that we’ve got to treat our kids well, but I don’t think we ought to say there’s no place ever for smacks.
“THE BEST THING WE CAN GIVE IS A SMACK”
“All parents know that occasionally the best thing we can give is a smack, but it should never be something that hurts them.”
Mr Abbott said it was “always a danger” that these types of bans moved Australia towards a nanny state.
“I think we often see political correctness taken to extremes and maybe this is another example,” he said.
During 2011-12, there were 252,962 notifications of suspected child abuse and neglect In Australia (a rate of 34.0 notifications per 1,000 Australian children), which is an increase of 6.6% from the 237,273 reports made in 2010-2011.
Research shows that a child who experiences physical punishment is more likely to develop increased aggressive behaviour and mental health problems as a child and as an adult.
Children do need discipline to learn appropriate and socially-acceptable behaviour as they grow and develop. But it’s increasingly clear that physical punishment is not an effective long-term strategy, because it doesn’t work.
In the 33 countries where the physical punishment of children is illegal, there’s evidence that both the legal change and the accompanying public dialogue change community attitudes to physical punishment of children.
In 1979, Sweden became the first country to explicitly ban all forms of corporal punishment of children.
The proportion of Swedes who considered physical punishment (even in its mildest form) necessary for child discipline halved between 1965 and 1981, and halved again by 1994.
A similar pattern is apparent elsewhere. A survey conducted in 2012 found 63% of New Zealand parents had never, or only rarely, smacked their child since the law there changed in 2007.
Countries that have banned the physical punishment of children have also seen other benefits including increased early identification of children at risk of abuse, and very low rates of mortality associated with child abuse.
While Australian community attitudes to physical punishment for children remain divided, support for smacking children seems to be on the decline.
In 2002, 75% of surveyed Australian adults agreed with the statement that it is sometimes necessary to smack a naughty child. This had decreased to 69% in 2006.
theguttertrash.com 
What can you say about this idiot? He seems determined to drive (no pun intended) Australia into a Depression – and then blame it on unionism, and now he wants to embrace child abuse. Christ! where does it end? Tell you what Tones, come around to my house and I’ll give you a little love tap – right in your mealy mouth!
Great post reb, I find myself in complete agreement!
l wonder if Mr-Rabbit was spanked as a kid.?
He has been spanked plenty as an adult.
Was never hit. Will never hit.
Unsurprisingly, I think there are far more intelligent ways to coerce positive behaviour in children.
I am wary of enforcing my method of parenting on other parents, but I do note that most of the smacking I’ve witnessed has been a loss of temper & control on behalf of parents who’ve run out of tolerance. Easy to say from the outside looking in, obviously.
Hiting soft vulnerable skin is never the right thing to do.
“Hitting”
(I have to be careful, having had a crack at TB over “your” and “you’re”…book learnin’ only goes so far)
‘Was never hit. Will never hit.’
I was slapped occasionally by the old man, but being a good catlick he let the teaching brothers settle me down in loco parentis. For which I will be eternally grateful, their brutish behaviour turned me into an atheist.
Haha, in loco parentis. I was subject to that too, while I attended a Catholic boarding school for 4 years.
Funnily enough, the minions never laid so much as a finger on me.
Now, was it due to my never having been hit & subsequently not needing overreaching discipline to keep me in line? or was it because they didn’t want their hallowed hands (and canes & [possibly] penises) being soiled by contact with an unremitting, frustrating & staunch unbeliever?
I am of the opinion that hitting kids is unnecessary & ‘wrong’ though. I think it’s a function of short tempered adults far more than a constructive way to ‘teach’ behaviour to miniature humans.
Most kids that I ‘feel’ like hitting appear to have been overindulged by their parents, to the point of noncompliance & tantrums-to-earn-entitlement…still, I’d never hit.
As I said earlier, there are far more intelligent ways of coercing appropriate behaviour. A lot of people just don’t know any better (when they have young kids) & adopt the mantra…”I got hit by my parents & I turned out ok”. 😯
I think you’re far better off staying calm, calculated & measured in your response if you want a child to ‘think’ rather than react & learn to be governed by their overriding, oppressive emotions. Doesn’t work for all.
I was given a public flogging in front of 700 students because I forgot to wear my cadet uniform. It was a cool crisp day.
“I was given a public flogging in front of 700 students”
And you turned out alright.
A smack is probably quite different to what my father termed … “a good hiding”… my mother and I took it in turns – especially when he was pissed … my sister (seven years my junior) denies it ever happened … she is a catlik tho’ and we all know they’re* right into denial and I don’t think she ever got a good thumping anyway … daddy’s preshus perhaps … although she did end up being spotted as a spoilt brat from other members of my family when she returned to the UK as an adult?
The most dreaded words I could hear, as a boy, were, “Wait til’ your* father gets home”.
I confess to smacking my kids on occasion … especially my son who was quite simply difficult to control – a very intelligent little boy who (as he does today) pushes the boundaries …
… when I finally woke up to the “learned behaviour” I was applying (from my studies, ToM) and my children were teens I apologised for hitting them when they were younger was …
In general, my family does not agree with smacking children …
… my son has smacked his son a couple of times when they were both younger … but my g/son too was/is a very clever, articulate and curious lad … and three warnings and the naughty corner didn’t always work!
The other four g/kids have not had a finger laid on them (my daughter can certainly raise her voice though).+
We’ve just this week dealt with a bullying episode of my daughter’s ten yo at school … a lad twice his size decided to test the theory that my g’son “could feel no pain” … as my g’son stood there (I suspect froze there in shock!) he hit him in the solar plexus, he tried the “experiment” a number of times – according to witnesses …
So from all this anecdotal and research evidence … can we assume that all these kids who, bully at school, king-hit complete strangers and commit violent acts of crime are just the ones being hit? I think not!
Do children who never experience pain have a lack of understanding of the pain they can inflict on others?
There is discipline and discipline … and quite frankly I don’t see too much of it from the current generation of parents …
To smack or not to smack really is/has always been a vexatious question … I am more in favour of not doing it … but I do wish our neighbours three little girls (soon to be four I am reliably informed!) would be made to stop that running around in the backyard and fkn screaming for absolutely no reason!
*note ThomArse — 😉
+ for those who don’t know my family all live in the same street … eleven of us … so I’m close to the “action”
And you turned out alright.
I know that as the Blogmeaster you can actually edit comments if necessary … this may be one of those occasions …
Just sayin’ … 😛
I may have forgotten the sarcasm alert, TB…. 🙂
“I know that as the Blogmeaster you can actually edit comments if necessary … ”
Oh, so you did see the “original version” of Ian Hall’s comment then…. 😉
“The most dreaded words I could hear, as a boy, were, “Wait til’ your* father gets home”.
I used to get that all the time…
Then I’d get a hiding from my dad an hour later, after I had forgotten all about what I had done wrong, and my dad looked like he was more interested in having a beer in front of the telly than have to “punish” me, but I guess it let him vent some stress.
But I turned out alright didn’t I….. 😯
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I was given a public flogging in front of 700’ ‘ ‘ ‘
lf you had a public flogging today, l suspect you could get a much bigger audience. The internet ratings would go thru the roof.
I agree with this, TB…
“To smack or not to smack really is/has always been a vexatious question … I am more in favour of not doing it … but I do wish our neighbours three little girls (soon to be four I am reliably informed!) would be made to stop that running around in the backyard and fkn screaming for absolutely no reason!”
Which is why I stress, I know it doesn’t work for every child/parent & I don’t think enforcing my way on others is appropriate. We just did (the mother of our child had an arsehole of a violent, intimidating father, but she’s never hit our daughter) as I was done unto by my parents & it has worked well for us. Maybe we were lucky, but I think being calm was probably the key. Our kid is a very measured person.
Also, I think having only one child made it easier for us to concentrate both of our efforts upon her; maybe.
I do hate little, out of control kids when I see them. It’s definitely not like I’ve never felt like clobbering a child. It’s just a line I wouldn’t cross without extreme provocation (ie. a kid tortures one of my pets etc.).
LOL @ 730… 🙄
We could “live blog” it…!
“I do hate little, out of control kids when I see them”
Me too. I wouldn’t be tempted to smack them, I’d fkn deck them.
What I particularly find offensive is when parents let there kids run amok in a restaurant or whatever, and just expect people to put up with it “cos they’re just kids…” 🙄
Me too, reb…but if someone else ever took it upon themselves to get physical with my offspring I’d proudly put them in Intensive Care. 🙂
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘when parents let there kids run amok in a restaurant’ ‘ ‘ ‘
You should call the parents out reb, particularly if you`re NOT in a `family` restaurant. One of friends told me about a time he had screaming kids running amok in what you would call an `adult` restaurant, he called out loudly to the `mother` ”hey lady, turn the volume down on those kids of yours”
The `mother` and father got quite red-faced, as their kids yelling was pissing off other restaurant goer`s who applauded him. Since he told me this, l have used/said similar in supermarkets. lt works.
“l have used/said similar in supermarkets. lt works.”
It didn’t for me… I was having a quiet swim in our indoor apartment complex swimming pool, when one young mother’s kids started that piercing screaming thing that they do.
When I asked the mother if she would mind asking them to stop screaming, she got all uppity telling me “they’re just kids!”
I felt like saying “yeah they are, and they’re just your kids, so can’t you control them?”
In fact, I think I might’ve said it.
‘And you turned out alright.’
Not quite, the mental scars from humiliation take time to heal and low self esteem is not a good start in life.
In retrospect I may not have been quite right, dragged out in front of the class to get six of the best on a regular basis. Funnily thats about the time I first became interested in the weather, so that may have had something to do with it.
Swimming pool, nah, ya not going to win there, show-ground, beaches, parks neither.
While I don’t think smacking is the way to go in our more enlightened age, I agree with Abbott that it (and those who do it) should not be criminalised.
Then there was the time I questioned Brother Felix on the unfairness of dog sending the heathen Africans to Limbo. His ruddy face went ashen and from then on I was a marked man.
I wagged school all the time to avoid the bullying and then they sent the parents a note and I got walloped at home for wagging. Eventually they took me out of that school and I faired better, but continued to get severely punished. To coin a phrase, its was not easy being me.
But I turned out alright didn’t I….. 😯
As I know that as the Blogmeaster you can actually …. *****************************************
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As usual, Ser Tee,
It’s definitely not like I’ve never felt like clobbering a child.
I never had much time for little kids other than my own but these days I often find them (I’m struggling for words here that won’t be — fk —- abused by you buggers) really interesting and funny and nice … what an arsehole of a world its become!
And I must say … the little girls next door really are beutiful kids —- they just fkn SCREAM!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What I particularly find offensive is when parents let there kids run amok in a restaurant or whatever, and just expect people to put up with it “cos they’re just kids…”
AGREE! My lot wouldn’t DARE! And seriously there is no need – we keep ’em occupied – and never ever run around … did I mention the word “discipline”?
Me too, reb…but if someone else ever took it upon themselves to get physical with my offspring I’d proudly put them in Intensive Care.
AGREE! Did I mention “vexatious question”?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And many of you here have already guessed I AGREE with this!
Since he told me this, l have used/said similar in supermarkets. lt works.
Boomer Powerr! (Double rr is optional ThomArse ..) *
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I felt like saying “yeah they are, and they’re just your kids, so can’t you control them?”
In fact, I think I might’ve said it.
I just bet you can scream back, sreb! believe me it works! And how. And its FUN! Scares the shite out of ’em … ALL … I love The Graham Norton Show!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Not quite, the mental scars from humiliation take time to heal and low self esteem is not a good start in life.
We’ve noticed that, Sugarplum …then read your next comment …+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Off to see the jeweller (among many others!) who wants to wipe the insurance jeweller out!
We are now ve–e-e-ery close … wish me luck!
As a father of a “curious” 2yo boy and a 10 month old princess, I feel qualified to comment.
1. I think a distinction shoul be drawn between a smack on the bum and child abuse. Li’l Sancty (or Buzz as he likes to be known) gets one occasionally but it’s not so much a punishment thing as I guess as more a “this is serious” thing. Like if he’s sitting on Li’l Miss Sancty’s (or Little Potato Head as he likes to call her) and she’s close to suffocation. He’s never hurt.
2. I call bullshit on any stats which suggest that as smacking has decreased so has violence.
3. I personally think it’s cruel to take kids to restaurants where there’s an expectation that they’ll have to sit for any length of time.
4. Grocery shopping is a necessity and difficult for a parent with kids. Critics can get fcked or shop at midnight.
5. From my observation, yelling at my son is infinitely more distressing to him than a quick smack.
“Grocery shopping is a necessity and difficult for a parent with kids. Critics can get fcked or shop at midnight.”
Why can’t you cunts shop at midnight?
Why do you think that breeders somehow have greater rights than normal people?
Sancty is correct, boys in particular need and expect limitations on robust behaviour. Its natural for them to push the boundaries of propriety, after all they were designed to kill or be killed, so they prepare for any eventuality through games.
Lol Reb.
They (we) don’t. It’s about tolerance in a functional society.
But you expect other normal peace-loving people to shop at midnight, just so that you so-called people with your uncontrollable offspring can reek havoc during the day??
Define normal.
“Define normal”
People like me.
reek
What a clever Freudian, sreb!
Wreak – reek … luv it … 🙂
WCPs are normal now???
(Who would Australia’s Prime Minister For Misogyny have been Old-Testament go(o)d-smacking in His household, and why is His rule-of-thumb the final arbiter? Or, does He think at all before he flaps his gums? Or, something even more stirring like that.)
I think he ‘thinks’ that coz he’s ‘leader’ now he must get to morally arbitrate for the rest of us.
But, I get your thrust. 😉 And it makes a great byline…
TONY ABBOTT HIT GIRLS!!! (why am I not surprised)
* no excuses there, like…”“curious” boys”.
I’ve never hit a girl, ergo, I am morally superior to Tony Arsehat.
Libertarians hate it when the PM hands out moral advice…wait, what?! 😯
HOW TO FUCK UP A COUNTRY 101!
State Fuckwits™!
Now I’m no fan of tollroads/bridges and have stated such many times but if we are to have them then I prefer that the money goes into consolidated revenue rather than shareholders pockets!
Lunch debrief TB?
Ol’ Stalky’s still about these parts I see. 😉
Yes boss, still demanding explanations from others yet failing to justify his own right-wing BS… 😉
I thought he was sharp as a tack, but WCP escapes me.
WCP = Wealth Crazed Prick
I thought it was nice of him to drop in.
I thought maybe he was gonna finally grace me with his essay about how ‘leftists’ ‘hate’ the Catholic Church because it was the only thing which stood up to communism
and, Stalin never had pogroms against Jews, never purged the intelligentsia or members of his own Party who accidentally looked sideways at him, no Sir! Never!.Sharp as a blunt parent of toddlers.
Been there, done that. NTTAWWT.
Oh yeah, that’s right.
Oh 🙄 Snacky At His Finest.
.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘4. Grocery shopping is a necessity and difficult for a parent with kids.’ ‘ ‘ ‘
But not difficult for those who do physical work, and long shifts, you assume.
.
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Critics can get fcked or shop at midnight.’ ‘ ‘ ‘
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘They (we) don’t. It’s about tolerance in a functional society.’ ‘ ‘ ‘
Or `you`and`wife could be tolerant/considerate, and schedule your shopping for midnight ya`self, or without the kids. You seem to expect `others` to be considerate, while ignoring your own lack of consideration. You don`t realize `others` may work different hours to yourself, l`m often getting up at 4am, sometimes 3am l wake before the alarm.
“You seem to expect `others` to be considerate, while ignoring your own lack of consideration.”
EXACTLY!
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Queenslanders will pay more for electricity.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ “It is going to mean higher infrastructure costs,” shadow treasurer Curtis Pitt said.
“Electricity consumers will have to pay for the higher cost of borrowing for the private sector, and then the private sector profit margin.
“And they are going to be demanding profits.”‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/no-early-poll-qld-premier/story-e6frfku9-1226782227125
.
Noddy seems to want to follow the privatisation `dream` other teabag premiers have used. Yes, privatise the electricity, that pushes up the power-price, helping drive business out of the state and country. This is the type of thing that makes `Holden`welfare and politicians `business`promotions/junkets totally pointless. Noddy wishes, and probably will, give away at `firesale`price, a tool that could be used to attract/retain business. But instead, will run expensive big-biz advertising campaigns, just as NSW and VIC now do,
Come to `our` state and set up your biz-operations, we will do all we can for you, toll all your vehicles and deliveries, ensure ever increasing electricity costs,
sreb, re lunch …
… usual dishes entree (dim sims/prawn toast/spring rolls etc) pork (crisp/plum), beef (blackbean/vegs), chook (lemon), prawns (garlic – kings, not the shrimps you lot get in Mexico) …
… finished off with flied ice-cleam in dly ice dishes … bit of Toillette’s music and it could have looked like a set from the Living Dead … come to think of it as a rare surprise my unemployed, drummer g/son turned up (who we rarely see these days) with his weird haircut and odd piercings (Grandma really is special!)
The owner gave all the girls a rose and The Minister recieved a noice bottle of pinot noir chardonnay … I had pinot gris (son-in-law ordered not sure the winery but would have been NZ – his birthplace) … arrived @ 12:30 and left just after 3:30 … a wonderful time had by all!
Noice surroundings but the midi file music drove us mad – one of those christmas carousel things that sound like an out of tune Stylophone! (You do remember Stylophones?)
And as my son often says – have you noticed how expensive “poverty foods” now are in Australia … 😉
And nibbles on the deck was great … as you know we have great views to Brisbane 30km away and someone suddenly fired up with a five minute firework display … topped the day off nicely.
Thanks for asking … BTW did I pass the essay assignment? 🙂
COMING SOON!
Advertising laws will be changing soon …
Look out for these beauties!
All approved by the Productivity Council and a LibNit Government near you!
http://fotozup.com/disturbing-ads-from-the-good-old-times/
Glad to hear you had a great time TB, sounds like a lot of fun! 🙂
‘London Labour MP David Lammy last year said legislation surrounding smacking needed to be relaxed so working-class parents could instil discipline without fearing prosecution.
‘He also claimed that Labour’s 2004 decision to tighten up the smacking law was partly to blame for last summer’s riots, which erupted in his north London constituency.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2530263/Childrens-tsar-calls-parents-completely-banned-smacking-children-abuse.html#ixzz2onsHSjQa
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook