The Government has missed a golden opportunity to send a message to the nation. Ministers have missed the point for, until the law states otherwise, it seems parents are able to smack their children. However, if any of these parents smacked someone else's child they would quite likely be arrested for assault. But if that assault were to go unnoticed and to continue it would be called 'child abuse'. Why then is the Government willing to subject childminders to the possibility of such accusations? We are already more vulnerable to false complaints, as we are working from a home-based environment. Please don't add fuel to the fire by inviting us to smack - we don't want to or need to.
The Government has missed a golden opportunity to send a message to the nation. Ministers have missed the point for, until the law states otherwise, it seems parents are able to smack their children. However, if any of these parents smacked someone else's child they would quite likely be arrested for assault. But if that assault were to go unnoticed and to continue it would be called 'child abuse'.
Why then is the Government willing to subject childminders to the possibility of such accusations? We are already more vulnerable to false complaints, as we are working from a home-based environment. Please don't add fuel to the fire by inviting us to smack - we don't want to or need to.
If a parent believes good-quality childminders should smack, then why do they not lobby the schools, after-school clubs and pre-schools to do the same? That parents do not request smacking in other settings is surely a better indication of public opinion than a survey of only 1,000 parents.
Annette Dawson, via e-mail
