Smacking deterrent

tHoSE advocating a ban on smacking (Mail) may be well-meaning but we do harm to the nurture of young children when smacking is not administered for acts of wilful defiance and inappropriate behaviour.

Smacking causes only temporary mild pain. this is important, for pain is the message to all, including the very youngest, that something is wrong.

Pain is an effective deterrent, for no child ever puts its hands in the fire twice. Hence smacking, when appropriate, is a sign of a parent’s love and care. Dr BernarD Senior, Dundee. HErE we go again with Holyrood wasting more time looking at a smacking ban (Mail).

We went through all this almost 15 years ago now and established then that the law is a blunt instrument when it comes to regulating families. A smacking ban will end up like the SNP’s Named Person scheme, targeting the wrong people and mired in the courts. J. eDWarDS, Perth.