behave or else
i am happy to report that it is still legal to be a parent in the united kingdom and that as such one has the right to discipline one's offspring and with a good (read, mild) smacking when needed. while a bid to outlaw the practice failed in the House of Lords, the upper house opted for for a government-backed compromise crafted by Liberal Democrat Lord Lester, in which peers voted to allow mild smacking. the move to ban parents from smacking their children was defeated, in a 75 to 250 vote. the Peers supported the compromise with 226 votes versus 91 votes against.prime minister tony blair's spokesman said the government was opposed to a total ban: «the government wants to send the signal that parents do have the right to discipline children at the same time as protecting the rights of children». he added: «we don't want to criminalise parents -- the government believes parents will recognise the distinction between discipline, which is right, and hurting a child, which is wrong».
i think there should also be a law allowing the smacking of parents when they need discipline and providing the means to carrying it out.
