The Welsh government has banned physical punishment of children, including smacking, shaking, and slapping.
This move, which was signed into law this week, has prompted calls for England to enact similar legislation. However, despite the law’s clear impact on the welfare of children, it hasn’t been received with unanimous support, and critics have raised some serious issues .
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It overturns a Victorian-era rationalization.
Prior to this most recent legislation, the defense of “reasonable punishment” had been in place since Victorian times. Wales’ new law removes this defense and outlaws all forms of physical punishment against kids.
It was signed in by Wales’ Labour-led government.
While those on the Labour side of the aisle lauded the law, calling it historic, opponents — notably Wales’ Conservatives — have criticized the new law and the implications it has for the nation’s parents.
It encourages people to turn in parents.
The sweeping law applies to everyone in Wales, including visitors, and notably encourages anyone who witnesses a parent or guardian using physical punishment to turn them into authorities.
Welsh conservatives worry it will create a “Stasi culture.”
Hearkening back to the Stasi secret police of East Germany, critics of the new law say it will encourage people to turn in their neighbors and settle grudges by giving them an avenue to report them to police.
Supporters have shot down this criticism.
Julie Morgan, Wales’ deputy minister for social services, said, “We don’t want people spying, [but] looking after children is the responsibility of the whole community. The culture has started to change and I think the law will reinforce that.”
It’s part of a trend in the United Kingdom.
Scotland outlawed smacking in 2020, making England and Northern Ireland the only countries in the U.K. not to pass such a law.
“We’d love it to happen in England,” said Morgan. “We’re happy to work with people in England to push this forward.”
There’s a campaign to educate parents and guardians.
A website set up by the Welsh government breaks down the new law, including a Q&A section where it explains how to report child abuse. It notes that while physical punishment is illegal, “rough and tumble” play is allowed.
Conservatives still aren’t convinced.
Gareth Davies, shadow social services minister for the Welsh Conservatives, said, “I am very worried about campaigns that encourage a Stasi culture in Wales where people, and children, are encouraged to shop parents who discipline their children in what they deem a proportionate manned into the police. The Labour government … is clearly more interested in new age dogma rather than respecting parents.”
What do you think?
The pendulum has swung over the decades to the point where physical punishment of children, which was once seen as a normal part of child-rearing, is mostly frowned upon.
Do you think signing this into legislation and officially making physical punishment illegal is a logical next step, or an example of government overreach? We’d love to know your thoughts, so please share them in the comments section!
h/t: The Guardian