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Smacking should be banned
Should a parent be able to smack their child or should that be illegal? If a parent or adult smack a child, with their hand, to stop bad behaviour or to discipline their child, some people think that it shouldn’t be a law. There has been a lot of discussion in the media about the anti-smacking law and if it should be illegal or not. The law was introduced to New Zealand by Sue Bradford of the Green party and then passed in June, 2007, some people still think its ok to smack children, but it’s not. There is now a referendum, the question is ‘Should a smack, as part of good parental correction, be a criminal offence in New Zealand?’ I think that smacking should be a criminal offence in New Zealand.

Firstly I don’t see why parents should be able to smack their children and get away with it. Some people think that it’s ok to smack their child either because they think, ‘it’s my child, and I can do what I want’ or if they think it’s the better way to discipline the child. But it could, sometimes, lead to other violence if the parents go out of control. I think that children need to feel safe in their home without having to be scared if they do something wrong that they might get smacked. Also if children get smacked they might feel insecure and unsafe around their parents, some children could feel mentally damaged because they think their parents hate them.

My next reason that I think smacking should be banned is that, as a result of being smacked, the children might think that it’s ok to hit other children. Or worse, if they have children when they’re older they might smack their child and it could keep going for generations just from a few smacks.

Many people think its ok to smack their child because there are no other ways of disciplining them, but I think they’re wrong. If parents want to discipline their child, there are better ways, for example, no TV, no pocket money for a week, or confiscating something that is a privilege to the child like a cell phone. These ways of discipline will not be of physical harm to the child getting smacked.

Lastly, I don’t think violence is the way to solve anything, especially if the violence is inflicted on a child, for whatever they’ve done.

In conclusion, I think that the anti-smacking law in New Zealand should stay and that parents should think of better ways to discipline their child. Also, there is a possibility that the smacked child could not learn anything from being smacked and still be a badly behaved child.

