The Spanking World Around Us

Image from saltworks.org

In Canada, our federal legislation still protects spanking in the home. There are other countries that are like Canada and still allow corporal punishment domestically. According to CNN World, as of 2011, 31 countries have banned spanking in the home. The Toronto Sun reports as of December 15^th, 2013 that spanking is now illegal in 34 countries. Some of those countries include Germany, Greece, Isreal, Kenya, Spain and Uruguay.

The first country to ban spanking was Sweden in 1979. Today, 5% of Swedish children are still spanked (Swedish Institute 2014). Afterwards, a lot of European countries followed the trend and banned spanking as well. The Swedish Institute says the government banned spanking because all forms of spanking are seen as violent and abusive. They have claimed that their research proves that once a country makes it a criminal offence to spank their children, instances of child abuse decrease.

There is plenty of evidence that supports Swedish theories so, why does Canada still allow spanking in the home? My belief is that the government does not want to tell parents how to discipline their children. A spanking may get a parent’s point across after many other attempts fail. A spanking allowed by a Canadian parent should never cause any physical harm to a child but according to the Swedish Institute, there are lasting psychological effects regardless of the severity of the spanking.

As a child who grew up in a home and a culture where spanking was not only allowed but encouraged in the case of disobedience, it feels wrong for any government to tell parents how to discipline your children. Although, it is now widely accepted that spanking may have psychological effects on children, I think it is naïve to believe that by changing a law will stop people from spanking their children. I do also believe that that the Swedish government does bring up valid arguments on how to effectively discipline your child. The Swedish Institute believes that words are enough to develop a healthy child-parent relationship.

I believe it is important for governments provide as much possible education to parents and children, provide them with the tools for a happy and successful family unit and allow the discipline decisions to remain in the home. How do you feel about the current state of our law? Would changing the law make Canada a safer place for children? Feel free to comment below.

 

References

CNN World (2014) Corporal punishment policies around the world November 9^th, 2011 from http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/11/08/country.comparisons.corporal.punishment/index.html

Sweden (2014) Smacking Banned Since 1979 March 25^th, 2014 from https://sweden.se/society/smacking-banned-since-1979/