in Government thinking on reducing anti-social behaviour in society, a group of Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs have said.
The 12 MPs calling for a national debate on the negative effects of smacking included Meg Munn, Labour MP for Sheffield Heeley and a member of the education and skills select committee, Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton and Cheam and the party's spokesman for children, and Nick Palmer, Labour MP for Broxtowe.
The MPs said that positive, non-violent discipline was the key to better-behaved children and a better-behaved society.
Ms Munn supported the contention of the NSPCC that physical punishment was a lesson in bad behaviour because it taught children that violence pays and it may lead to aggressive and anti-social behaviour in later childhood or adulthood. She said, 'How can we teach children not to hit out if we continue to say there is a defence of reasonable chastisement? How can we teach them not to hit their friends if we continue to support physical punishment of children by adults?'
NSPCC director Mary Marsh said the charity was not suggesting that all children who were physically punished would become bullies or thugs. 'But we are convinced that there are strong links between harsh discipline involving physical punishment, often with sticks and belts, and anti-social behaviour later on in life.
'Children mainly learn from their parents, and if the lesson is that aggression pays, we should not be surprised if this behaviour is replicated.'
She called on parents to show their children that hitting others was wrong and said 'the best way to do this is by example'.
