Norman Wells contributes to a BBC debate on smacking:
“The government is right not to dictate to parents how they bring up their children and to resist the one-size-fits-all approach so beloved of children’s rights lobbyists.
“A number of false assumptions are frequently made about physical correction and emotive words do not assist rational debate.
“Many parents use occasional physical correction as a positive disciplinary tool in the context of a warm, caring relationship in which the child is valued and cherished.
“In many situations it is arguably a more kind and merciful response than other approaches which may be more drawn-out or risk causing emotional damage.
Increased harm
“It is alarming that groups such as the NSPCC are actively seeking to criminalise good parents who use physical correction in a loving and responsible way.
“Not only would this cause untold misery to the children in those families, but the misuse of child protection resources would expose genuinely abused children to increased risk of harm.
“Even those parents who do not personally support smacking are largely in agreement that this is not a matter to be addressed by legislation.
“The prospect of court hearings, care proceedings and case conferences which would inevitably follow a smacking ban would be infinitely more damaging to a child than a disciplinary smack.
“The overwhelming majority of children do not need to be protected from their parents, who know well enough the difference between moderate physical correction and child abuse.
“Rather, they need protection from overzealous social workers intent on imposing an unproven philosophy on every family by force of law.”
Published on the BBC website, 8 November 2001