The party that claims to protect your privacy wants to violate it
on January 19th, 2007 at 12:06 pmI was not trying to do too many postings today, but this one made me unhappy (to put it mildly).
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?
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.
Making a swat on the behind a misdemeanor might seem a bit much for some — and the chances of the idea becoming law appear slim, at best — but Lieber begs to differ.
“I think it’s pretty hard to argue you need to beat a child 3 years old or younger,” Lieber said. “Is it OK to whip a 1-year-old or a 6-month-old or a newborn?”
The bill, which is still being drafted, will be written broadly, she added, prohibiting “any striking of a child, any corporal punishment, smacking, hitting, punching, any of that.” Lieber said it would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail or a fine up to $1,000, although a legal expert advising her on the proposal said first-time offenders would probably only have to attend parenting classes. (more…)
Okay Saudia, me first 
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For starters, the word “spanking” is very relative which makes this whole thing scary. Some people consider a tap on the hand as a spanking while others consider a couple of taps on the behind as a spanking as well. In the Black community (and some parts of the White community), we have “whoopin’ ” and “lickn’ “. The general rule in my family (going back to both my mom and dad’s side of the family) is if a child is old enough to say “no” to you, they are old enough for some “applied discipline”. This does not be beat the crap out of kid, it just means that they need to understand by way of example that saying “no” to a parent is disrespectful (if that is considered ol’ skool, then hand me my cane). Reasoning or pleading with our kids to do something just does not happen in our house.
While I completely understand that there are parents out there who cross into outright abuse with discipline, that does not represent the many good parents out there who do know how and when to lay down to law. In any event, government has no right to monitor how I raise my children. The very suggestion for a bill to call for it is asinine. Personally, I believe that this will be another one of those bills that will fall flat on its face. But at the same time, I would not be surprised to see a revision of this bill pop up again in the near future.
