Exchange of the week The Scottish smacking ban

To The Times

The Scottish government appears to be devoting a great deal of its time to pursuing unenforceable legislation aimed at taking over the responsibilities of parents. It seems that the majority of Scottish parents are not thought to be competent enough to survive without government interference, though it is difficult to see how these ideas are to be enforced unless parents are to be reported by their children.

Meanwhile, serious matters such as the deterioration in the education system and the NHS in Scotland are not being addressed. It is time for our MSPS to reassess their priorities. Professor Colin Davidson, Ardfern, Argyll and Bute

To The Times

Professor Colin Davidson criticised the proposed Scots ban on parents smacking children. I am not allowed to hit my wife. I am not allowed to hit my colleagues. I am not allowed to hit random people in the street. So why should I be allowed to hit my children? Bernard Hughes, London

To The Times

Further to Bernard Hughes’s letter, there is a difference between hitting and smacking. No one is trying to justify hitting children, and it is absurd for Mr Hughes to suggest that his relationship with his children is no different from that with random people in the street.

There is also a difference between an instinctive, immediate response to a transgression and a premeditated response. If a two-year-old tears away from his mother’s grip and steps into the road, who is to judge whether the best response is a “rational” discussion between the two, an admonition emphasised by a short sharp smack or a later penalty? Why can’t it be left to parents to exercise their best judgement?

Bringing up children is one of the most difficult jobs. There is vastly more to good parenting than whether or not to smack. Should the state legislate on how a parent should exercise parental love? David Essex, London