There is a law before NZ parliament to outlaw parents who hit their children.
Reactionary forces have voted against this justify it by saying hitting children is a parental right. A parent should be able to choose their weapons, select how to discipline children. The crimes act of 1961 says that a parent is justified in the use of reasonable force as correction towards the child. Marc Alexander in this article asks how hard is it to understand the meaning of "reasonable"? He says this law is adequate. It is not.
Modern thinking on the subject is that parents using ANY violent force against their children will not only make the child backward in life, but it forces the child into a set of calculations that eventually result in criminal actions. Violence is wrong, because children learn by example and hitting children begets a violent society. Extreme cases must be prosecuted. Parents need to evolve their disciple so the child is intelligent enough to solve problems. Children who are hit become teenagers who run away and commit crimes. It is too damaging not to change the law.
Keeping people "in line" is the language of slavery. It is the job of a parent to bring the child up to their best of their ability. Any culture of accepting violence toward children is regressive, socially. Child abuse is an intergenerational disease. The final result is that the child, now an adult, abuses their elderly parents.
Sue Bradford, the Greens MP that has put up the Anti Smacking bill has suffered death threats from irate parents. This is in itself evidence of why the law needs to be stronger so that very severe cases of child abuse as punishment can be prosecuted.
Right wing media claim that the bill removes a fundamental right of parents - to hit their own children. I question that parents have any such "right". Children do not belong to parents. It is time we saw children as our future.
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