Should smacking children be banned across the UK as a whole?

The ‘smacking ban’ came into force in Wales on Monday.

Wales joins more than 60 nations worldwide in legislating against the physical punishment of children.

Any type of corporal punishment, including smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking, has been made illegal in the country from Monday.

Previously in Wales, and as is still the case in England and Northern Ireland, smacking a child was unlawful, but such an assault was allowed as long as it constituted “reasonable punishment”.

The ‘smacking ban’ means children will get the same protection from assault as adults, and the law will apply to everyone, even those visiting Wales – as is the case with all Welsh laws.

Scotland introduced its own ban in November 2020.

Parents or anyone who is responsible for a child while the parents are absent can now face criminal or civil charges if they are found to have physically disciplined a young person in any way.

Critics of the law change have said it will criminalise parents, but the Welsh Government has insisted the move is about protecting children’s rights.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that children have the right to be protected from harm and from being hurt and this includes physical punishment.

Advertisements by the Welsh Government to be displayed across the country after corporal punishment of children outlawed

“That right is now enshrined in Welsh law. No more grey areas. No more ‘defence of reasonable punishment’. That is all in the past.”

He added: “There is no place for physical punishment in a modern Wales.”

Also supporting the new law, Pam Kelly, Chief Constable of Gwent Police, said: “Our role as police officers, while working with other safeguarding agencies in Wales, is to provide support and reassurance to families, not to criminalise them.

“However it is important to recognise that discipline and physical punishment of children are not the same thing.”

Were you smacked by your parents if you misbehaved? Did smacking form part of how you disciplined your own children? What methods of discipline do you think work best? Does smacking have a negative effect on a child? Are you worried that parents could be criminalised if they smack their children? Do you think it’s time that England should join Wales and Scotland in outlawing corporal punishment?