Ventil

I'm sorry to hear about your situation Gav and it doesn't make for nice reading, but I still believe that you cannot judge the mass on the actions of the minority.
Child abuse is a horrific activity and needs to be punished accordingly but not by meting out a blanket ruling for all parents. This situation is hugely patronising and is an open statement of "we know how to raise your children better than you do".
Measures need to be put in place to ensure cases like your are not ignored and the children are protected but this must be through better social services not all encompassing rules.

michaelwoodcock

Making murder illegal didn't stop that from happening, but it makes prosecuting the bastards alot easier. Stopping it from happening in the first place like standing on the beach trying to hold back the tide, I accept that, but making sure the arseholes who see beating up on kids as fun spend years behind bars is a must. Most victims of this type of abuse have problems for the rest of their lives. Nightmares, problems with figures of authority, trust issues with guys/girls in later life, even questioning your own abilities as a parent in case you "follow the family ways".

I realise my pov is heavily biased, but I don't gaf, it's totally different when you have gone through something like this and watched the person walk free due to a flaw in the system.

michaelwoodcock

Social services don't work, plain and simple. You are basically relying on kids to come forward in situation like that. Relying on kids who usually are being beaten on a regular basis and raised in a real climate of fear. My brother and I used to be told that if we told, we'd be put in a home. Movies such as Scum would then be shown to us as a "this is what's waiting for you if you tell" lesson. Everyone we knew, everyone our parents knew, knew what was happening to us (admittedly, some didn't know the extent but almost all witnessed various acts that were prison worthy imo) and yet no-one ever went to the police or social services, the attitude of "it's none of my business" is still prevalent today, I've seen it myself. On a public transport bus and some chav mum is shaking her three year old violently, cursing and swearing at them, the kid sobbing. I confront the "mother", threaten to do the same to her, while every single person on the bus, including the driver, all suddenly find their shoes interesting.

The Govenrment need to step in imo, because no-one else ever does. This attitude of minding ones own business is a huge part of the problem.

Gah, I'm ranting. I'm biased, enough said.

retired_justin05

I don't think the benefits of beating kids (if there are any) out weighs the legal complexity of allowing people to abuse their kids up to some vague point.

retired_fabricodalacosta

Gav - as you said, you've seen one side to it that many of us haven't experienced. I fall into the camp of being smacked as a kid by my mother, but never excessively from what I remember. I was certainly never left with a mark of any kind.

For me it's more about social services getting their arse in gear more and intervening when a problem is found. Year after year we hear the same stories about kids suffering, even dying and a failure in the system being identified and yet mistakes aren't learned.

Sadly I feel that physical child abuse will never be gotten rid of altogether even with the best intentions to do so.

retired_princess160

Why any parent would feel the need to use physical violence (that's what it is, don't use a lame cowardly euphemism) on a kid is really beyond me. Violence is an outlet for frustration, not a tool to instill good behaviour in a child. It's about time the 'smackers' dare to admit that.

I've never in my life hit my daughter, the thought is appalling.

retired_princess160

(Having said that, I think the law can do little about it. Takes a general process of this behaviour becoming unacceptable. Nothing wrong with erring on the safe side though.)

retired_jshendel

I dunno the thought of getting a smack off my parents was enuogh to make me behave sometimes

retired_mika318

I'll never forgive my parents for leaving that donkey under my bed.

retired_mika318

The threat was enough for me.