As a Caniadian Citizen I am outraged!! It's ok to hit my children now as long as I don't use anything but my hand? I'm sorry, but I don't think so! There are other ways to dicipline our children without using something that will make them afraid of us and scar them emotionally.

Cheryl Milne, the lawyer for Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law, which had challenged the spanking law, said the court had given a mixed message.


"I'm heartened by the court's attempts to narrow the defense," she told reporters. "What I'm concerned with overall is that it's still OK to hit children."


The Child Welfare League of Canada, which argues that spanking leads to abuse, said it would continue to lobby Parliament for a ban.


However, repeated attempts have failed in the past and polls have shown 70 percent to 80 percent of the public would oppose a spanking ban.

*sigh* what was our government thinking? OK to hit children, but they let sex offenders go free!!!

From what I see, all discipline is child abuse, whether it's hitting them, locking them up (grounding them), or depriving them of what they love is all seriously detrimental to a child's mental health, as centuries of evidence has not proven. Someone who spanks their child is more likely to abuse them, and somebody who grounds their child is more likely to lock them in a cupboard than a parent who doesn't do a damn thing to discipline the child. We need to start acting like these hippies that lead to children like that kid who joined the Taliban.

Also, let's not forget being yelled at. That's a humiliating experience. In fact, I have more dreams in which I'm having a verbal fight with my family than I do of being spanked. Therefore, I think that yelling should be considered a dangerous form of abuse. It scars people emotionally and makes them afraid.

so if i give my children a time out..... that means i will lock them up somewhere? Or if I take away a toy because my son hit my daughter with it......... then i am depriving them then i am abusing them???

OMG be reasonable! children need discipline, without physical abuse. and I agree, yelling is wrong.

I am being reasonable. Just like people believe that spanking a child will lead to abusing them, I'm believing that giving children time outs will lead to locking them in a cupboard, and taking away a child's toy will lead them to taking away everything they love. It's all abuse in some form.

i believe that if you do not discipline your children , as in time outs ect. then you're giving your children the right to walk all over you and do as they please. Do you have children? you do not discipline them?

Dont explain your sarcasm!!! That takes all the fun out.

Spanking is fine *IF* it's reserved for the times that they're REALLY bad. If you spank them just when they get a little out of line, that's when it's abuse and they grow to resent it. I agree with Messy that all punishment borders on abuse whether physical or mental it doesnt matter. I might even argue that mental abuse is worse:

"You were bad and now you can't go to your friend's birthday party with all the other kids." That's more hurtful and scarring to a child than having a sore butt for an hour.

The best way to discipline children is to apply different punishments for the crime. If a child hurts another child (and is old enough to do it on purpose) then a spanking is in order. If a child steals another kid's toy, or takes something from the store....you take away toys. If they're throwing a fit about going to the supermarket with you, thats when b-day party rights get revoked.

The best way to discipline children is to apply different punishments for the crime. If a child hurts another child (and is old enough to do it on purpose) then a spanking is in order. If a child steals another kid's toy, or takes something from the store....you take away toys. If they're throwing a fit about going to the supermarket with you, thats when b-day party rights get revoked. by jeremy

i agree! there are different ways to handle a situation, but doing nothing as messy is stating is not the way to go. you can discipline a child without it being abuse. Children have to learn that there are times we will let things lide, but there are other times that we can't.

i also agree with you that mental abuse is often worse for a child. I have gone through both types during my childhood and have found different ways to deal with disciplining my children, but it's not abuse, nor would it ever be

I am Canadian. I realize the anguish that you must have gone through by being abused and you have my sincere hope that your anguish will at some point end, however comparing spanking parents to Adolf Hitler is a bit extreme. Also, I was under the impression that spanking was not allowed in Canada. Discipline, like anything else, taken to extreme is wrong. As far as removing disruptive students from their rooms; what about the rest of the students that are there to learn?

How and what would suggest society do to discipline those children who do not follow the general behavior of such society?

If society exists without rules and certain standards of behavior, then there is no society.

well said!

Personally, I don't believe that spanking as a form of punishment, does much good. The first time I did it, I bawled my ass off. (Mind you, she was in the midst of trying to stick a fork in an electrical socket.) I hit her because I was scared, and wanted her to know, without any question, that it was a bad thing to do. She's never attempted it again, but man, what a thing to teach a kid. Hurting her so she wouldn't hurt herself.
I think, the worst thing about spanking (for the parent, I mean) is that it invariably becomes redundant. The child grows, and any amount of physical forces leaves the child able to take the punishment, and completely lose faith in the punisher. And respect. Spanking teaches a child nothing but to fear the person who is dealing out the pain, and then, to later hate that person.
The problem is when the parent has become accustomed to hitting when the child is doing something wrong. The parent is angry, and then hits in reflex. By this time, it's a pattern. And what happens when the child does something really wrong? That parent has reached a boiling point and the ability to judge the amount of force in a heated moment is questionable. Spanking as punishment is no longer the issue; once it crosses that line it is child abuse without doubt.

It might be ironic that you prevented your child from hurting herself by hurting her, but surely the irony is favorable when compared with the alternative, which is the death of your child.
Any discipline done too often would be bad. Grounding somebody too often will isolate them from the world, and taking something away from a child too often will cause that child to find something else to do, which might be bad, and I'm sure there's more meaningful things that can be done with a child's life than staring at a wall all day (i.e. time outs).

Let the punishment fit the crime. If a child is about to do something that will potentially kill them, a spank is in order. If the kid is talking back to you after you repeatedly told them to eat their dinner, then a time-out in the corner will work. You just can't do all of one thing all the time, or it won't work. If you spanked the kid for everything, how will they be able to tell what is *really* wrong? They don't. Smacking a kids hand because they are about to touch a running woodstove (after you told them not to) is protecting the child. Smacking the kids hand for everything little thing they do is not effective and is borderline abuse.

You also need to make sure that your punishment is age appropriate, and that you also give rewards for good things that they do.