I’m not a parent, but I was once a child, as I understand quite a lot of us are at some point. Some parents will have a different point of view on this, which I respect. But I’m entitled to mine.

The banning of smacking is something I can’t help but support. People think a lot about kids as being ‘theirs’, but the truth is that kids, like the rest of us, are people who belong to themselves. sure, often they don’t understand the world they are in or the consequences of their actions. But in my view, hitting them teaches fear of the parent, and still does not educate them.

Pretty much the only reasonable excuse for even controlled violence is the defence of yourself, or another person.

There’s no clear legal line between what kinds of violence are ‘reasonable’ or not, and what seems reasonable to a parent often ends up completely crossing the line. Sometimes again and again. And who can a child speak to about that? How can they deal with it themselves? Can you really move beyond it, even in adulthood?

Abuse rarely starts with abuse and this is the gateway drug for people who can’t control themselves. Parents need to be able to use other methods to control their kids, and sometimes, to come to peace with the idea that kids can’t be controlled.

That’s better than letting the law be set up in a way that allows children to be hurt – physically or psychologically. Let’s end the acceptability of corporal punishment in our homes.