The ban came into force after MSPs at Holyrood passed a Member’s Bill brought forward by Green MSP, John Finnie. MSPs voted by 84 to 29 in favour of introducing a law which will make it a criminal offence for parents to use physical punishment against a child.
The legal change is aimed at giving children the same protection from assault as adults. At the moment, the law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland states that parents are allowed to discipline their kids using “reasonable” physical force – but the tide appears to be changing.
In January 2019, Jersey was the first part of the British Isles to ban smacking. Following that vote, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said the rules should be overhauled beyond Jersey “to reflect what the majority of parents believe: that hitting children is wrong”.
And as a parent of two young children, I couldn’t agree more.
I was smacked as a child, as were many of my generation – and probably the generations before us, too. It was, my parents tell me now – 30 years later – “just what you did”. But it’s not “just what you do”, now. Far from it.
I only have one friend who admits to smacking her kids. She doesn’t act in anger, and it’s always a ‘last resort’ – when her children might otherwise hurt themselves, or put themselves or someone else in danger. Yet it always shocks me.
The idea of laying a finger on my kids – yes, even a small sting, a ‘barely there’ slap, a slight tap on the back of the hand – feels unconscionable. And to do so would make me a hypocrite.
Because the message I’m trying to teach them – and trying to model through my own actions – is that violence is always wrong. No exceptions. We wouldn’t condone smacking a family pet, so why is alright to teach children that they’re the only members of society who can be chastised physically by people bigger and more powerful than them... and they can’t do a thing to stop it?
Critics of smacking bans, however, say that legislating parenting is “dangerous”, and has the capacity to “disempower parents”. Dr Amanda Gummer, a child development psychologist and founder of Fundamentally Children, believes this – and said there’s a “massive difference” between a parent giving a child a smack on the wrist because they’re in danger of putting their hand in a fire, and physical or emotional abuse.
“The message I teach my kids – and try to model through my own actions – is that violence is always wrong. No exceptions.”
“Legislating for this kind of thing can be dangerous,” Gummer said. “The better approach is to equip parents with alternative strategies – if you’ve got a child who just won’t listen, or who is constantly hitting others, the only way might be to show him or her what it feels like. Otherwise, how will they learn?”
And statistics seem to back this view – a YouGov poll, conducted in 2017, showed that 59% of parents did not believe smacking should be banned, and only 22% thought it should be.
But studies have shown a link between smacking and psychological problems in adulthood, including symptoms of depression, drinking moderate or heavy amounts of alcohol, and taking drugs.
Liat Hughes Joshi, a parenting author and commentator, doesn’t think smacking is effective. “Many people think, ‘well, it didn’t do me any harm’ – and believe parents should have the choice,” she told HuffPost UK. “But research shows that overall, it does do harm.”
“To me, it’s clear-cut,” she added. “I believe categorically that the rest of the UK should [have] a complete smacking ban.”