So many good things have been said in this thread. I started out copying many of the posts- but there are so many of them I'm going to erase them and just make a few comments of my own.

Education is key. Child-rearing classes - and not just for the poor-will in time make all the difference. It has always astonished me that we human beings have all the equipment necessary to have offspring and that no one thinks it necessary to monitor what we do with it.


* As they say, an unenforceable law is a bad law. Unless we want Big Brother-type monitors in our homes- and in each room of our homes - there is no way that a law like that can be enforced.

* The point MUST be that a beating is different from a swat. Beatings should be against the law everywhere. And surely there is enough anecdotal evidence to show decisively that children react differently to a swat. In my (large) birth family the oldest daughter never got spanked- a severe look devastated her - and the third son was never spanked either, pretty much for the same reason. The rest of us did get spanked- and whipped. I think whipping is so over the top that I would NEVER defend it.

* My sister in law and I worked different shifts so we were able to babysit each other's daughters. She was a spanker, I was a talker. My daughter and her cousin to this day say that they much preferred a quick spanking to my reasoned dialogue. For one thing my method took longer- a quick spanking let them pay the punishment and the incident was over. Plus, as my daughter said, my method made them have to think. :)

"It's a scary thought to me that humans would need such a law in the first place." Peace

"Imagine the parent hysterical or just mean - mentally punishing a child - nothing physical, yet emotionally can do more harm to a child in the long term - how do they propose to check that ????"
Diesel

"Wife took her by the hand and said "Ok, you made your choice." and took her to the car and locked the doors." Kendall

* Kendall, I'm sure you realize that someone could have seen the child left alone in the car and reported it to police? A view from 'outside' looks very different from the inside one.

"I am uneasy about a law against spanking. Nobody should be hitting babies but a law like this could get messy. KB in Iowa

"What're you gonna do -- take a two-year-old away and put him in a "loving, caring foster home" because his mom or dad spanked him/her?   Yeah, that'll really help." Genie

"Rather than ban spanking, parents should be given compulsory lessons on parenthood - by experienced parents, not by do-gooders who haven't a clue!" Bernard

"What is not defined to my satisfaction is this: spanking." Peace