Moves are afoot in the Welsh parliament to ban parents' smacking of kids. There is a cross-party consensus developing that the state should legislate for what is acceptable in this area. Pro-ban supporters point out that already more than 20 countries globally have banned the smacking of children.
The Welsh first minister was quoted as saying: "The Welsh ministers' view is that it would be possible for legislation to be passed by the assembly to make amendments to the criminal law whose effect would be to bring to an end the availability of the defence of reasonable punishment for those cases where it still applies to an offence of assaulting a child."
What do you think? Do you think that the state should tell parents what they can and can't do? What if it was for the child's own good e.g., if he or she ran out on the road and you absolutely needed to reinforce that that just couldn't happen again?
