Partial ban on smacking condones other physical punishment, says experts!NSW legislation banning parents from hitting their children above the neck in effect condones physical punishment, a child abuse conference will hear today.
The 2001 legislation specified where a child could legally be hit, which only perpetuates the view that physical punishment is normal and a parent's right, Bernadette Saunders, of the Child Abuse and Family Violence Research Unit at Monash University, says.
No-Smacking Day for Children in NSW
US research shows that physical punishment is ineffective in shaping children's behaviour and could cause long-term psychological harm, she says.
"The legislation may actually have the reverse effect than it intended, it in effect reinforced parents' right to hit children," Ms Saunders said yesterday.
"What it actually says is it's OK to hit your children from the shoulders down, as long it doesn't cause harm lasting more than a short, undefined period of time.
"Children are the only people in our society who can legally be hit. In some states common law exists as a defence to a charge of assault if a parent hits a child in the name of discipline."
The fact is though "could cause long-term psychological harm" should be re stated to "will cause long-term psychological harm". Just the inference of smacking as a way for parents to solve a problem teaches those children who were smacked a bad lesson.
This lesson from the person who loves them sends a message that "smacking solves problems". It could deliver another message that "short-term results are obtained by threats and smacking" the governments "wrap over the knuckles" syndrome. But the end result can be fatal. Just ask Justice Alastair Nicholson of the Family Court "Smacking a child ought be seen as assault" He said.
There is one clear and unequivocal message that violence including domestic violence is caused by the very classically conditioned idea that threats and violence "smacking" somehow solves problems. When a persons resources are low like in a crisis situation and people become frustrated, then it becomes second nature to rely on the social skills you have learned, to try and solve your own main problem.
National No Smacking day will help people become aware of the numerous ways of problem solving that don't include threats or violence and this is not a new idea.
First International No-Smacking Day for Tasmania - The Child Friendly State Launched April 30th 2003.
The rest of Australia could help solve the crime of violence by planting the seed of non-violence. Better awareness about other ways of problem solving! This means long term results, less violence, less prisons and it also means more money in the education bin.
Ms Saunders will present the paper, titled Physical Punishment: The Thoughts, Feelings and Words of Australian Children, at the Ninth Australasian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, which began at Darling Harbour yesterday.
When the punishment is the crime and planting the seed
About 1000 child protection professionals and 60 children from Australia and overseas will attend the four-day conference.
In her opening speech the Community Services Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, will tell the conference there has been a "massive increase" in the number of reports of child abuse in the past five years, which she attributes to a rise in inequality across the population, as well as an increase in mandatory reporting.
A spokeswoman for Ms Tebbutt said yesterday that there had been a 436 per cent increase in "reports of concern" to the Department of Community Services.
Ms Saunders said Australia's attitudes on the physical punishment of children, banned in Sweden in 1976, were slowly changing, with the use of implements such as a belt, wooden spoon or garden hose becoming less common.
"There's probably less tolerance of severe physical punishment and the use of implements . . . however there is still a tolerance of smacking children and that'll only change with education and increased parental support," she said.
Research by the Australian Childhood Foundation showed 75 per cent of parents thought it was acceptable to sometimes smack a naughty child, but 95 per cent disagreed with the use of implements, she said.
Charles Dickens said, "Life is a secret and you haven't got the key."
But There Are Keys
26 November 03
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The Seed
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The Law According to Gregory Wayne Kable
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