[George]

I remember my kids coming home from elementary school and telling me that it was against the law to spank them. I invited them to try me. There have indeed been some cases here in Ontario as well as some challenges to the current law. The challenges resulted in some clarification: parents and other caregivers are indeed permitted to use reasonable force to discipline their children. However, ‘reasonable force’ includes hands only (no instruments) and frowns on any sort of public humiliation. I think this is a just law and as a parent I can work within it. In general I have not found physical punishment useful. I don’t think that punishment is an effective way to deal with children, with only occasional exceptions. And my recollection is that the frequent strappings we took from the Brothers in Catholic high school produced precisely the opposite effect to what was intended. One case that made a lot of headlines here in Ontario involved an Illinois man, a father of a 5-year old girl who spanked her bare bottom on the hood of the car in a restaurant parking lot. (She had intentionally slammed the car door on her 2-year old brother’s hand.) I did feel sorry for the father. I think that had he done the spanking inside the car or if the girl had been left fully-clothed, there would have been no case.

User Detail :  

Name : George, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Buddhist, Age : 54, City : Toronto, Ontario, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : Evaluation researcher, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,