Skwim
Veteran Member
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Thoughts?
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"The Welsh government has officially adopted a bill that will punish parents who say, in court, that they hit their kids in order to discipline them.
(Which also means, until now, it was perfectly acceptable to use “reasonable punishment” in defense of child abuse.)
The “Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment” Act, adopted this week, will go into effect in 2022. [Why the wait?]
[Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services Julie Morgan] said: “Physical punishment has no place here in Wales — there is no such thing as a loving smack and no justifiable reason for a big person to hit a little person.
“I’m delighted we have voted to change the law to help protect our children and future generations.”
All of this is perfectly sensible. And yet a coalition of religious and conservative leaders fought this bill for years, arguing that they had every right to hit their kids as a form of discipline. One website even used the argument “Parents should decide whether to smack their children, not the government.” That group also referred to the bill as — no joke — an “assault on parents.”
Another conservative politician argued that, if parents can’t hit their kids in Wales, people may no longer take vacations there.
Welsh Conservative AM Janet Finch-Saunders said last year the ban could deter parents from England from holidaying in Wales.
She said: “I have concerns about raising awareness. I don’t want people to be thinking, ‘I’m not going to Wales as I’m unclear about the law and I can’t reasonably parent my children’."source
(Which also means, until now, it was perfectly acceptable to use “reasonable punishment” in defense of child abuse.)
The “Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment” Act, adopted this week, will go into effect in 2022. [Why the wait?]
[Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services Julie Morgan] said: “Physical punishment has no place here in Wales — there is no such thing as a loving smack and no justifiable reason for a big person to hit a little person.
“I’m delighted we have voted to change the law to help protect our children and future generations.”
Another conservative politician argued that, if parents can’t hit their kids in Wales, people may no longer take vacations there.
Welsh Conservative AM Janet Finch-Saunders said last year the ban could deter parents from England from holidaying in Wales.
She said: “I have concerns about raising awareness. I don’t want people to be thinking, ‘I’m not going to Wales as I’m unclear about the law and I can’t reasonably parent my children’."
Thoughts?
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