I was flogged by the nuns every day…but it never did me any harm

If anyone is reading this, they might rightly assume that I’ve been sucked in a vortex, or more likely simply abandoned this blog. The truth is, recent days have been notable for a marked lack of cooperation on the part of both my health and my computer. As the latter is now sorted and the former is at least servicable, let us proceed to the topic of this post.

I was reading an article recently about a proposal to impose financial penalties on parents whose children engage in criminal activity. There were a variety of responses to this proposal. Predictably, a recurring one was one along the lines of “How are we supposed to keep our children in line when the government/loony left/do-gooders/social engineers have taken away our right to discipline them?”

A couple of explanatory points before I proceed. As you may have gathered, the “right to discipline” is code for the imposition of corporal punishment (the possibility that parental rights might not be unconditional and that children may also have rights has apparently not occurred to these people!) Secondly, corporal punishment has not been specifically outlawed in the home in Australia – the law allowing “reasonable chastisement” of children has itself not changed since the 1930s, although the courts’ likely interpretation of the word “reasonable” obviously has.

I’m not going to turn this post into a general critique of corporal punishment. A multitude of publications have already covered the issue in significant depth, and I doubt that there is anything I could add. Instead, I will specifically address the notion that the possibility of corporal punishment is a prerequisite for keeping a child from harm.

I should disclose right now that I am not a parent. In the minds of many, this means that anything I have to say on the issue is terminally uninformed. Perhaps, however, my lack of first-hand experience will allow me to approach the issue from an unemotive perspective, without the need to try to justify my own actions in the process.

A common refrain of those claiming corporal punishment as essential is that it is needed to deter children from actions that may put themselves or others at risk. Common examples of such actions are of a child touching a hot stove, or running into a busy street. I believe this reasoning to be flawed. It is risky in the extreme for a parent to rely on the efficacy of their discipline to prevent their child from engaging in such actions. If they are too young to understand the danger, then they are likely also too young to form an association between the action and the consequence. Once they are old enough to understand the danger, they will avoid it of their own accord. In the meantime, the only effective means of protecting the child is close and constant parental supervision.

Obviously it is a long road from touching hot stoves to acts of juvenile delinquency. However, it surely goes without saying that if the only thing preventing a older child from engaging in a life of crime is the threat of punishment, corporal or otherwise, there are some serious underlying issues that need to be addressed – a quick-fix solution will not cut it. This is where the child’s nurturing, if any, and the values that have been instilled in them, if any, need to be taken account of. It is unrealistic to expect superior behavioural standards from children than those expressed by their adult rolemodels – and I have witnessed some absolutely shocking public behaviour on the part of adults, even while in the company of their own children. Perhaps this is where the focus of our attention should be.

It is undeniable that there have been significant societal changes since the days when corporal punishment was widespread and widely accepted – some of these changes have been positive ones, others markedly less so. Whether we like these changes or not, any new policies and practices need to be framed within their context. It is worth noting that the couple of dozen countries that have outlawed corporal punishment completely do not, in broad terms, suffer from delinquent behaviours to the same degree as those that have retained it. It seems likely that it is local cultural norms that are not only giving rise to higher levels of violent and anti-social behaviour, but also prescribing corporal punishment as the solution.

Okay, with that out of the way, I think a more light-hearted post is due, to act as a counterpoint to the more heavy themes explored to date. Until then, here’s a nice picture of some ducks to brighten up the blog: