NSPCC chief lauds smacking ban, gets roasted by public
Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the NSPCC, praised Scottish and Welsh politicians who want to ban smacking in an article for The Times last week.
Not content with a crackdown in Wales and Scotland, he also suggested that Westminster ought to pursue English parents who dare to discipline their children in this way.
Wanless made the predictable claim that smacking is assault, and said the current law doesn’t protect children.
Of course the general public saw straight through these arguments, deconstructing them in The Time’s online comment section.
One reader named Rylstone wrote:
“We already report parents to social services if they use anything other than occasional and light physical punishment, schools and nurseries do that routinely… by criminalising them, we will do far more harm than good”
Precisely. The current law prevents assault against children, and changing it could actually undermine child protection by flooding the police and social workers with trivial reports.
Another reader called Dougal said:
“This is an area where a doctrinaire elite are constructing new social norms that are not shared by the majority of people, and that disregard the wisdom of loving parents”.
Well said. Under a smacking ban, parents will be forced by criminal law, no less, to comply with the diktats of the political elite.
DS Delacroix added:
“If [smacking] is criminalised, and the ability of parents to discipline children scrutinised in every situation, then we are starting to create a generation that knows no authority”.
Delacroix makes an important point. Sweden, one of the first countries to ban smacking, has seen a rise in child-on-child violence, and a breakdown of discipline in schools.
The ban has left parents too scared to say no to anything, and children are suffering as a result.
Finally, Michelle Woodger wrote:
“To equate the treatment of children with that of adults is nonsense. It’s also unlawful to pick up, undress or pour water over an adult without their explicit consent but how else would you expect me to bathe my toddler and get him ready for bed? Should I ask his consent before I give him a cuddle? …before I pick him up to stop him running into the road? …before I put him into the car?”
The nannying of state officials annoys parents no end. Peter Wanless would do well to realise this and focus his efforts on helping genuinely at-risk children.
Until he does, he’ll remain thoroughly out of touch with parents.
