As some of (hopefully all of you in NZ!) are aware there is about to be a referendum in New Zealand which will ask the question “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?”. This question is intended by the conservative right wing who called for the referendum to actually ask the question “Should it be legal to assault your children in ways you can not assault adults or animals?”
However when I saw the advertisement for the referendum on TV for the 162nd time (not an actual statistic) it suddenly clicked to me that what this question also puts to us – the people of New Zealand – is if we would like to make it legal to beat out parents when they need correcting! As anyone who knows me (and my parents) knows, I often believe I am in the position of needing to correct my parents. For once I find myself in a position of agreeing with the conservative right wing – being allowed to beat my parents to ‘correct’ them, is an absolutely fantastic idea! My hat is off to you geniuses down there at the Family First and the Sensible Sentencing Trust, you have finally come up with a good idea.
At first I thought perhaps these conservative people actually enjoyed being legally able to torture their kids with the threat of physical violence but now I see they are actually on the side of the kids, and are trying to give the little ones a chance to have the power by giving them the legal right to beat their unruly and out of line parents. I can picture the campaign ads already… “Tired of parents always telling you when to go to bed? Well now you can correct them with a good smack on the behind! Get your wooden spoons kids, it’s time to correct your parents for all those nights of having to eat your dinner before you can have dessert!” How do you word the legal disclaimer on that? I guess you just have to remember the rule – The spoon must be no wider than your thumb or it’s assault… right?
In all seriousness though, for those of you who read this and are eligible to vote in this upcoming referendum, if it does turn up in your mailbox then please vote ‘yes’ – don’t just ignore the piece of paper because you don’t care or you think that it is stupid. It is a stupid question and this law change should be over and done with already, but if you do nothing then those who want to legalise hitting kids once more will think they have won. This law is not about being able to keep your kids safe, it is still legal to physically intervene to save your kids or anyone else’s from immediate harm (pushing them out of the way of a bus, smacking the hand away from a fire, etc etc) what those who vote no are asking for the right to do is use violence as a form of punishment against children. Think about how you would want to be treated as an adult, by another adult.
Vote Yes.
Avoiding the question of a smack being right or wrong… I don’t see it as a right wing thing.
Surely it is a liberal thing. Liberals want as much freedom from government as possible.
I don’t see what the problem is of it becoming law anyway, everyone keeps saying the police won’t chase parents who give their kids a smack on the bum for discipline (even though it is illegal), so why not add it?
It would avoid the ‘reasonable’ definition too that started the problem in the first place.
Can I punch, kick or club my child? No you can only smack them.
Can I smack my child 20 times? No, ‘a smack’, once, singular.
Can I smack my child because I am drunk? No, that wouldn’t be good parental correction.
And some adults can smack other adults. In this case it is police taking a semi-parental role tasering instead of smacking, but some adults, like some children, just won’t behave.