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January 19, 2007
Hey, Parent! Leave Those Kids Alone!
A California Assemblywoman wants to make spanking a crime.
SACRAMENTO - The state Legislature is about to weigh in on a question that stirs impassioned debate among moms and dads: Should parents spank their children?The article goes on to say that the ban would likely not pass, since even people who don't choose to spank their own kids think it's stupid to criminalize how others discipline children.Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, wants to outlaw spanking children up to 3 years old. If she succeeds, California would become the first state in the nation to explicitly ban parents from smacking their kids.
I was spanked as a child, and have suffered no ill effects. I know that sometimes people abuse their kids under the guise of corporal punishment, but that's already criminal behavior. And how, exactly, does the legislature think they're going to enforce this ban?
What bothers me the most, though, is Lieber's rationale. You've got to read it to believe it:
As for Lieber's proposal, the professor said: ``I think this proposal is not just a step too far, it's a leap too far. At least from a scientific perspective there really isn't any research to support the idea that this would make things better for children.''And there you go. That's how policy is made in California.But Lieber is optimistic that lawmakers will find her proposal hard to resist. For the record, she does not have children and says she was not slapped as a child. But she does have a cat named Snoop, which her veterinarian told her never to hit.
``And if you never hit a cat,'' Lieber said, ``you should never hit a kid.''
Posted by slublog at January 19, 2007 08:50 AM
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