There have been several reports recently that have raised the issue of smacking. Triple J radio station aired the latest findings of a report by the Australian Family Association on the topic. As has been debated previously the AFA has used a survey on smacking to raise the question of whether smacking children should be made illegal.
What astounded me most about the surveys results is that 45% of those surveyed said its okay to leave a mark on your child from smacking. I guess Ill be getting half of the people reading this disagreeing with me, according to those results anyhow, but I just dont get the logic of the whole smacking issue.
If 45% of people think its okay to leave a mark on your child from smacking the same people would agree that its okay to do the following:
1. Hit the person in front of you at the supermarket checkout because they are in the 8 items or less lane and actually have 9 items.
2. Slap the person who doesnt look before crossing the road and consequently nearly gets hit by a car.
3. Punch the work colleague who doesnt share her block of chocolate with you, but eats it in front of you instead.
4. Whack your husband for forgetting to grab the milk on the way home from work.
Okay, my examples might seem a bit over the top but really whats the difference? I just dont get it. You dont go around hitting other adults when they dont behave the way you want them to so why is it okay to do so to children? Within a partnership we call it domestic violence. Between strangers its assault. But when its done to children its smacking. And thats okay??