Children are not fooled by the concept of the 'loving smack'. They know that what is actually going on is a big, powerful person hitting a smaller, less powerful one. As one child said, 'Smacking is what parents do when they hit you, only they call it a smack.'
That comment comes from a survey done by the National Children's Bureau and Save the Children among four- to seven-year-olds. The resulting paper, It Hurts You Inside - Children talking about smacking by Carolyne Willow and Tina Hyder, contains a number of frightening statistics - such as that 19 out of the 76 children consulted had been smacked on the head, face or cheek - and plenty of evidence that children believed physical punishment reinforced cycles of violent behaviour.
The report, published in 1999, coincided with the launch of a campaign by the alliance called Children are Unbeatable!, aimed at persuading the Government to give children the same legal protection against assault as adults, and, alongside that, to promote positive, non-violent discipline. Two years later, England remains the focus of this high-profile campaign, while elsewhere in the UK and in Europe, legislation is moving ahead.
Only in England
Around Europe, ten countries have outlawed physical punishment of children, including the Scandinavian countries (Sweden was the first, 22 years ago), Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Latvia and Italy.
On the continent children seem to be valued and included in a way that Britain appears to find difficult. The evidence is anecdotal, but British families holidaying in Europe report that even tiny children are accepted everywhere. A teacher says, 'I am aware of children in Spain and France being part of the family group much more than in Britain. In Spain children sleep during the day so are out in the evening with their parents. I don't think I have ever seen a child being hit. Parents speak firmly but they never raise their hand, whereas you still see that happening here.'
Early years academic Professor Peter Moss says that in Scandinavia the idea of smacking would be shocking. 'Danes, Swedes and Norwegians no doubt lose their temper like everybody else, but I suspect they would find the idea of smacking quite incompatible with their idea of the child and child's rights,' he says.
A consultation paper issued by the Scottish Executive in February last year produced a clear response from childcare groups, churches, healthcare bodies, police and other professionals in Scotland in favour of anti-smacking legislation. A spokes- man for the Executive confirms that proposals expected to receive royal assent by the end of 2002 will allow parents to keep the right to 'reasonably chastise' their children, but totally ban blows to the head, shaking and the use of implements, ban any physical punishment of children aged under three, and ban the use of corporal punishment in all formal childcare settings.
Scotland's justice minister Jim Wallace describes the move as a way of protecting children from punishment 'that is harsh, degrading and completely inappropriate in a decent society'. He says, 'I know this is something the majority of people in Scotland will support.'
The Forum on Children and Violence (FCV), co-ordinated by the National Children's Bureau, says the Scottish proposals send a clear message to the rest of the UK that violence towards children is unacceptable.
But last week it was announced in Westminster, following a consultation on physical punishment (see news, p4-5), that parents in England and Wales can continue to smack their children without interference from the state. David Hinchliffe, Labour chairman of the Commons health committee, warned that the Government faced a revolt on the issue. 'We can't have an effective child protection system while we preserve this archaic concept of reasonable chastisement. The tragic death of Victoria Climbie started with slaps and smacks which escalated into terrible abuse.'
Parents confused
Parents may say they smack to keep their child from imminent danger, perhaps about to stick a finger in a light socket, or to swiftly resolve a supermarket tantrum-type situation. Or they may do it simply because they can't think of an alternative.
But research, such as that done by Carolyne Willow and Tina Hyder, and by others, reveals the true impact of hitting a child. The pain blots out any lesson the child is supposed to learn about bad behaviour, and later in life smacked children show a tendency to use violence as a solution to problems.
In another studyinto smacking published by the National Children's Bureau ('Attitudes towards and the practice of discipline among parents of pre-school children in Nottingham' by Anne E Thompson and John B Pearce, in Children and Society, vol. 15, 2001, p231-236), only a quarter of respondents agreed it was an appropriate way to handle the unsafe behaviour of a three-year-old. Yet two-thirds admitted they had smacked their pre-school child in the previous week. An NCB spokesman said, 'This backs up the view that professionals and parents need to get together to discuss alternatives to smacking. Parents don't like smacking a child, yet many do because they don't know what else to do.'
Childcare experts are particularly horrified that childminders, under the new National Standards for Daycare, are still allowed to smack children if they have the parents' permission. The National Childminding Association is again debating the issue at its annual general meeting this weekend in an attempt to get the standards amended. Leeds childminder Jane Newton, who is proposing the resolution at the AGM, says, 'There are numerous, much better ways of disciplining children. Young children will not understand why they are being hit - all they will remember is the smack. They get very confused messages. We tell them not to hit other children, yet adults have the right to smack them.'
Sue Finch of the FCV says, 'One of the really heartbreaking things is that the new National Standards have missed an opportunity. The position before that was that the Children Act 1989 said there should be no physical punishment in any form of childcare.
'It seems very sad to me that we should be considering how hard children should be hit, rather than whether they should be hit.'
Fears of interference
Those who oppose any further legislation on smacking point to parents'
fears of heavy-handed intervention by the police and social services. But the Children are Unbeatable! alliance says that there is ample evidence in other countries that outlawing corporal punishment combined with promoting effective means of positive discipline, reduce the resort to violence, and improve relationships between children and their carers.
The Alliance maintains that rather than getting caught up in trivial cases, new legislation would make prosecution easier in serious cases and provide a clear basis for child protection. Since physical punishment was outlawed in Sweden there has been less reporting of assaults and fewer prosecutions of parents. Sue Finch says, 'In Sweden the law has hardly been used - it worked as a way of changing hearts and minds rather than as a heavy instrument.' She is convinced that legislation here would work positively for parents.
England's new daycare standards do render smacking difficult by requiring childminders to gain written parental permission for it, and by raising issues covering insurance, record-keeping, and where, how and under what circumstances smacking might be permissible.
But the Alliance, with more than 300 organisations as members, will not accept any justifications. It states, 'There is nothing good or healthy or loving or safe about deliberately hurting children. It has nothing to do with effective discipline and is a lesson in bad behaviour.'
UK MOVES COUNTRY BY COUNTRY
* England, Wales and Scotland have all undertaken consultations within their borders on proposals to ban the physical punishment of children.
* The Scottish Executive intends to prohibit smacking by childminders and in all daycare settings, as well as limiting corporal punishment by parents.
* National standards for Wales also propose banning smacking in all forms of daycare.
* In Northern Ireland a paper on the physical punishment of children is currently out for consultation.
* In England, new National Standards for Daycare introduced in September say childminders may smack children in their care if they have written consent from parents. Following a consultation, the Government announced last week that it is not changing the law on physical punishment by parents and carers.
